War of the Melee Worlds
by Pelican
Summary: War breaks out among the lands of the Lylat System, Ripple Star, Pop Star, Hyrule, and the Mushroom Kingdom. Which side will win this intergalactic and egotistical war?
1. This Means War!

Disclaimer: I do not own Super Smash Brothers: Melee, its characters, or anything related. 

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War of the Melee Worlds

Chapter 1 – This Means War!

By Pelican (Pelican_13@yahoo.com)

05/24/2002

The Super Smash Brothers: Melee competition is seen in many countries and on many planets. The many worlds of Nintendo have sent their best and most heroic not to be acknowledged for their deeds but to fight, again. On one normal day we find a meeting of several political giants, each having one or more melee stars from their land in competition. The four were sitting in a rather sophisticated setting on one of the higher levels of a tower in Corneria City, watching the melee matches on a huge screen TV.

The host of the event was General Pepper. Like most Cornerians he is a humanoid dog. General Pepper could be considered the dictator of the Lylat system but that word carries a bad connotation. He had commanded the armies that defeated Andross's invasion and rebuild Corneria and the surrounding planets, allowing peace and prosperity to return to the Lylat system once again. Two fighters hail from the Lylat area, Fox McCloud and Falco Lombardi. Both are mercenaries that helped defeat Andross. Officially, they do not fight under the symbol of Corneria but that of the Star Fox team.

The first guest was a melee star herself. She is Princess Peach Toadstool. Her rule extends over the Mushroom Kingdom, on a planet far away from their current location. The Mushroom's inhabitants look like short people with mushrooms on their heads. The Mushroom Kingdom is credited with sending the most fighters to Super Smash Brothers: Melee. They are Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, and Mario in his doctor attire. The Mushroom Kingdom maintains especially close tries with Yoshi's Island.

The next of the invited was also from a monarchy. His daughter fights in melee competition as a representative of Hyrule. He is simply the King of Hyrule; his daughter is Princess Zelda, a sage and the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom. Link, the Hero of Time and holder of the Triforce of Courage, is another representative of Hyrule. He uses two forms to fight, his regular self and himself in his body seven years ago. Another fighter under the symbol of the Triforce is Ganondorf, holder of the Triforce of Power and King of the Gerudos. Ganondorf's kingdom and the kingdom of Hyrule have an uneasy tension between them.

The last guest hailed from the planet of Ripple Star. She is a fairy, like all others from that planet. She is regarded as the queen and was the one to present Kirby with their medals of honor after Kirby thwarted an attempt to take over Ripple Star and the surrounding planets by Dark Matter by reuniting all the shards of the fairy emerald. She wears odd glasses that appear too large for her and commonly bounce around her face when she walks. The only representative of the Pop Star and Ripple Star solar system is Kirby.

General Pepper, the King of Hyrule, Peach, and the Queen of Ripple Star were sitting on a long leather couch facing the television. There was a match already being displayed but the four showed little interest. They were going to watch the next match together.

"Jigglypuff leads by one over Marth in this one on one, ten minute battle at Mute City. Only fifteen seconds remain," the commentator informed.

"Can Marth come back and win this?" another commentator asked.

Jigglypuff rolled on her side for a few moments and then suddenly bolted out and struck Marth, still curled up like a ball. Marth was sent flying off the side of the arena.

"Oh my gosh! Did you see that!?" the first commentator yelled.

"Marth's eliminated. Jigglypuff leads by three!" the second commentator stated.

"GAME!" an unseen announcer boomed over a PA system. "This game's winner is…"

The Pokémon victory music began to play. "Jigglypuff!"

"Our match is next," General Pepper announced.

"Ohhh, I can hardly stand the wait," Peach said.

"We'll be right back with Kirby and Fox versus Mario and Link right after this!" the commentator said as the picture faded out and was replaced with commercials.

"Anyone willing to put up a wager?" the King of Hyrule asked.

"Wait," the queen of Ripple Star cut in, "this is a gambling party?"

"Please don't tell me gambling is illegal here," the Hylian king responded.

"It isn't," General Pepper answered.

"Mario just better win," Peach said.

The two doors opened and a Cornerian entered. He was is dress attire and pushing a metal cart of some kind.

"Drinks anyone?" he asked. He pushed the cart towards the distinguished four, allowing them a look at the cooler loaded with several kinds of soda cans in ice.

"Just leave them here," Pepper instructed. The butler did as was told and walked away.

"Here comes the match!" Peach announced. The Melee logo appeared on the screen and a picture of a smaller model of Great Fox appeared on the screen. The Corneria City level was set up and the four fighters were awaiting teleportation.

"Do they fly anywhere near this building?" the King of Hyrule asked.

"We should be able to see them from that window." Pepper pointed to a large window on the other side of the room. It had a marvelous view of the city and the outlying area, being one of the highest buildings in the city.

"This is it folks, we've got a great two on two match coming in a few moments."

"That's right, Tim! In a short while it will be Fox and Kirby taking on Mario and Link, here in Corneria City!" another set of commentators announced.

"They're ready to start the match so let's go to arena-side."

The camera changed angles to a view of the side of the ship as it moved through the side. Four metal discs appeared with light omitting from the bottom. The four fighters appeared, Fox and Kirby on the left, and Link and Mario on the right. All fighters wore their normal outfits but knew which team they were on.

"GO!" the announcer boomed. The four fighters dropped from their metal discs and the match began. Two lives, medium item appearance

Kirby and Link charged towards the middle. Kirby acted first and ignited his body while moving forward. His body, now a ball aflame, struck Link and knocked him upwards. Mario fired a fireball in Kirby's direction. Kirby took the heat and was slightly set aflame, although this flame hurt. Fox began to get into the match and began rapidly firing his Blaster, which made many connections to the back of Link's head.

Back at the press box the four politicians have sat down and are watching the match with great interest. Mario impacted Kirby with a stationary fireball and smashed him to the left side of the arena, near Fox.

"Go Mario!" Peach cheered.

"Come on Kirby!" the queen of Ripple Star encouraged.

Kirby rose to his feet and Link ran forward. Link attempted to strike a blow with his sword but Kirby dodged the attack. Fox executed a Fox Illusion and swept Link off his feet. Kirby capitalized and connected with an upward smash attack. Mario entered the fray and took out Fox's feet with a running slide attack, knocking Fox over.

At the press box the four onlookers continued to cheer for their representatives. Soon the match evened out to all four fighters having one life and each in a very dangerous situation as far as their damage percentages go. Mario and Link had the high ground, the tail of ship, while Fox and Kirby held their position near the cockpit.

"We have this match in the bag," the king of Hyrule announced.

"How do you figure?" the queen of Ripple Star asked.

"The high ground is ours!"

"That's a disadvantage when fighting Fox," General Pepper stated.

Fox jumped and began firing his Blaster. Link took a couple of hits and Fox fell too low to get another shot in. Fox jumped again but Link raised his shield and blocked the two shots of light.

"Is that the best your boy can do?" the king of Hyrule asked.

An item box fell near Mario and Link. It rolled down the tail of the ship and broke open once the reached more level ground. Inside was a bob-omb and a Pokéball. Mario and Link ran forward to grab the two items. Fox opened fire with his Blaster and Kirby used his Final Cutter technique. Fox's laser blasts dealt more damage but Mario and Link jumped back to the tip of the tail with their items intact.

"It's almost over," Peach announced.

Mario and Link jumped twice and threw their items. Their parabolic trajectory was almost perfect and it looked like both would hit Fox and Kirby. Fox put up his Reflector while Kirby jumped right in front of the bob-omb! In the press box all gasped. Kirby reached his arms out and grabbed the bob-omb without it exploding. Mario's Pokéball flew past Kirby and hit Fox's Reflector. It bounced back towards the tail of the ship and opened.

"NO!" Peach and the king of Hyrule acted to Kirby grabbing the bomb.

The ball opened and Entei stood on the stage.

"NO!" Peach and the king of Hyrule said again once they saw a legendary Pokémon on the side of their opponents.

Entei used his Fire Spin, but Mario and Link were out of range to take any damage. Suddenly, out of the fire, Kirby jumped towards his two opponents and threw the bob-omb. The projectile hit Mario and the resulting explosion hit Link. Both flew so high they were eliminated.

"GAME!" the announcer proclaimed.

"NO! NO! NO!" the king of Hyrule was irate.

"Haha!" General Pepper said in victory, "We win!"

"That was cheap!" Peach accused.

"Yay, Kirby!" the queen of Ripple Star cheered.

"That was not fair!" the king of Hyrule voiced his opinion.

"You lost, fair and square," Pepper replied.

"You had to use a bom-omb," Peach retaliated.

"It was legal," the queen of Ripple Star stated.

"Link was the one to pick it up to begin with," General Pepper said.

"And Kirby grabbed it. Wasn't that a beautiful move?" the queen of Ripple Star asked.

"Without items we would have won!" Peach boldly stated.

"How do you figure?" General Pepper asked.

"We're better fighters," the king of Hyrule said with confidence.

"You know our Kirby beat you," said the queen of Ripple Star.

"Oh please," General Pepper replied, "We've fought in battles you wouldn't last ten minutes in!"

"Yeah, right!"

"I know I am!"

"Prove it then!"

"I will!"

"Fine, this means war!" declared the King of Hyrule.

"W-War?" asked the queen of Ripple Star.

"Oh look, she's afraid," Peach taunted.

"I'm not!" responded the queen of Ripple Star, "We declare war!"

"Well then," Peach answered, "So do we!"

Peach and the king of Hyrule stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind them. General Pepper and the queen of Ripple Star were left behind.

"What do we do?" the queen asked, a little unsure of herself.

"What do you expect?" the general returned, "We go to war!"


	2. Rally the Troops

War of the Melee Worlds

Chapter 2 – Rally the Troops

By Pelican (Pelican_13@yahoo.com)

"Sir," a Cornerian officer saluted the general. The general was too aggravated to bother to return the salute. "Our military analysts predict we can win this war fairly easily."

"That's what the damn analysts said about Andross!" Pepper replied angrily.

"S-Sir," the officer began, "we have far superior technology and a much larger military."

"Has there been any contact from the Mushroom Kingdom or Hyrule yet?" the general asked.

"No, sir," the officer replied, "It's only been a couple of hours."

"Perhaps their threats were idle," the general suggested.

"Maybe," the officer returned. "Sir, from what we know the best course of action is to set up a base on the Mushroom Kingdom or Hyrule. From there we can capture their respective leaders and end this war quickly."

"Very well," the general replied, "Set up a squadron to prepare to move to the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Yes, sir," the officer answered.

"But," the general continued, "do not move out until my order. We still aren't sure if this war is for real."

The officer saluted once more and this time Pepper returned.

The queen of Ripple Star's ship, which looked like a small spherical craft, landed on her home planet. The canopy of the ship, which was a glass covering taking up half the sphere, opened and she jumped out. The glass automatically closed shortly after. The equator of the ship was decorated with hearts and the bottom was flat, as to allow it to land and not roll away. Upon her exit, she was approached by one of her friends, Ribbon.

"How did it go?" Ribbon asked in a cheerful voice.

"Horrible!" the queen replied sternly.

"Why?" Ribbon asked innocently, "What happened?"

"The Hylian king and Peach declared war on us and the Lylat System!" the fairy queen angrily answered.

"What?" Ribbon asked shocked, "But why?"

"Apparently they think their fighters are the best and their lands superior," the queen replied, a little calmer than before. "Kirby won that match and they can't admit it."

"All this over a melee match?"

"It's more then that. The only fighter we sent is Kirby, and he's been thought of as a joke."

"Well, we didn't actually send him. He's from Pop Star."

"Which reminds me," the queen began, "I need to contact Pop Star and tell them the news, especially Kirby."

"If you want we can leave now," Ribbon offered.

"Very well," the queen replied. Ribbon opened the canopy of the heart ship and they both entered.

"Zelda," a Hylian guard addressed the princess of Hyrule. Zelda spun around and gave her attention to the guard.

"Your father requires your presence in the throne room."

"For what?" Zelda asked.

"I haven't been told," the guard answered.

Zelda walked around the guard and down one of the marble hallways of Hyrule Castle. Zelda had healed herself after a match she and fought earlier and changed into one of her more formal dresses, not the one she used to fight with in melee competition. Before long she entered the throne room and walked up to her father, who was at his usual place on the throne chair.

"Zelda, I have some bad news," the king stated.

"What is it, father?" Zelda asked.

"Did you see Link's fight?"

"I did," Zelda answered. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"During that fight I was with General Pepper of Corneria, the queen of Ripple Star, and Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom. I trust you saw how that match ended."

"I did," Zelda answered, "I felt so bad for Link. He and Mario were so close to winning."

"Indeed. Well, after we lost Pepper and the fairy queen had a few disrespectful comments. The honor of Hyrule was at stake, so I've declared war." Zelda had an expression of disbelief on her face after her father's news. "As have the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Wait!" Zelda shot, "Let me get this straight. We are at war with Lylat and Ripple Star!?"

"That is correct," the king answered.

"Dad! How could you?" Zelda said extremely enraged. "Did you ever think about what could happen!?"

"I did, and as always Hyrule will prevail," the king said confidently.

Zelda spun around and forcefully walked off. "How? How could he do this?" she said to herself.

Peach greeted Mario at the entrance of the castle. Mario was still a little scuffed up after his match but Peach was able to retain a more calm demeanor.

"That match didn't go as planned," Mario stated.

"Neither did Pepper's little party," Peach added.

"Why?" Mario asked, "What happened?"

"We are now at war with the Lylat System."

"WHAT!?" Mario interrupted.

"And Ripple Star," Peach finished.

"Moma-mia! W-Wh," Mario stuttered, "Why?"

"Because Pepper and that little fairy queen were belittling us," Peach answered.

"But-a war?" Mario asked again.

"We can win, we've fought off Bowser's minions enough times before," Peach assured. "I will be making an address to the kingdom in a few hours. We aren't afraid to go through with this. I just wanted you to be one of the first to know."

Pepper stood before eight large view screens, all black. Next to him were two high ranked commanders in full military attire.

"Sir," one of them began, "we're ready to make contact."

"Proceed," the general ordered.

Four of the view screens turned on and the faces of four other Cornerian commanders appeared. All four saluted simultaneously.

"We are prepared to move by your command," the officer in the top right view screen reported.

"It will be night in a few hours, I suggest we begin our operation then," the officer on the television to the left suggested.

"How do we know they won't see our ships landing in their kingdom?" Pepper asked.

"The only radar they have are near major cities and Peach's castle itself. Our landing site is far out of range for them," one of the other officers reported.

"Our longer range spacecraft can easily make it to the castle and back," the last officer reported.

"Very well," Pepper replied, "Make your landing at night and contact me when you've set up a secure station."

The four officers saluted and their view screens turned off.

"Kirby!" Ribbon called out. She and the fairy queen were searching an area of Pop Star Kirby was known to like.

"Kirby!" Ribbon called out again.

"Look!" the queen pointed to the sky. A star sped across their view and then began to descend towards the planet. The flash of light turned towards the two fairies and impacted on the planet's surface. The two from Ripple Star ran towards the landing site.

"Kirby! Is that you!" Ribbon called out as the two neared the star's landing zone. They could make out the image of a short pink ball moving towards them.

"Hiii!" Kirby replied to them.

"Kirby," the queen said while panting for breath. "We need your help!"

Kirby listened intently. "Kirby, oh let me catch my breath."

A little while later the queen and Ribbon were rested and ready to inform Kirby on the events of the past few hours.

"We are at war with the Mushroom Kingdom and Hyrule and we need your planet's help!" the queen said almost desperately.

"Let's go see King Dedede," Kirby suggested.

"How can he help?" Ribbon asked, "He isn't really the king."

"Yes but he can help us rally the troops," Kirby said.

"Maybe," Ribbon said.

"It is time we show those supposedly better nations that we aren't some third rate lands to be messed with," the queen proclaimed.

"I can travel faster than you," Kirby stated. "Let me go ahead and tell Dedede."

"Alright, the queen replied, "Ribbon and I will go back to Ripple Star and get our people ready."

"Bye!" Kirby said as he ran back towards his warp star. Ribbon and the fairy queen began to walk back towards their interplanetary ship.

"Glad you could make it on short notice," Peach said. She was standing before two toads on the bridge of her castle, but these toads weren't dresses like the others. They wore full green suits with a few multi-colored medals.

"We can have our armies fully prepared by tomorrow," one of the toad generals informed.

"We should begin fortifying the castle immediately," the other toad commander suggested. "Most likely Corneria will try to make the first attack."

"Begin at once," Peach ordered.

"And if they try to fly through the airspace over the castle we'll be able to detect them from a radar station we're setting up there." One of the toad commanders pointed to a mountain in front of the castle. Along the Mario Kart 64 course Royal Raceway, it proves to be an obstacle, especially if one lands on it after the big jump over the lake.

"We've also sent messengers to the other towns of the kingdom. Ripple Star and Corneria will find that we are going to be well prepared for them."

"I want guard patrols as far as the Kokiri Forest and Lake Hylia," the king of Hyrule ordered.

The king of Hyrule was walking through the field before Hyrule Castle with the captain of the royal guards. It was an hour after the Mushroom Kingdom had begun to prepare its armies and Pop Star had been informed of the war.

"If they try and land on our kingdom I want to know," the king continued.

"Sir, our weapons aren't nearly as good as those of the Cornerians," the captain informed.

"That is why we don't let them land on our soil."

Another guard ran from the castle to the king and the captain. "Sire," he called out.

The king and the captain turned around to see the younger guard. He stopped a few feet away and saluted.

"Peach has called a conference of the nation's leaders," he informed.

"Alright, you two come with me. Let's see what she's trying to accomplish with this." The king led the way back to the castle.

The king and his royal guards arrived in a room in the castle with several view screens, which on many occasions had made communication with Hyrule much easier. Of course, Hyrule doesn't manufacture its own electronics. Already showing up on one of the screens was Princess Peach and two toad generals.

"Ah, glad you could make it," Peach said as the king of Hyrule joined the electronic conference, "We're waiting to see if Corneria and Ripple Star decide to join us."

"What exactly is the meaning of this?" the king asked.

"To see who is going to follow through on their war declaration," Peach answered.

Just then one of the blank view screens activated and General Pepper appeared, along with two of his colonels.

"What is the meaning of this conference?" the general demanded to know.

"We want to know," Peach began. She was interrupted when another view screen turned on, this one showing the portrait of the queen of Ripple Star and her younger friend, Ribbon.

"It looks as if we are all here," the king of Hyrule pointed out.

"Now I demand to know why you have held this conference!" General Pepper demanded.

"I simply want to know if any of you have decided to chicken out of the war," Peach answered.

"Chicken out? Ha, the Cornerians have never backed down from a fight," Pepper said with pride.

"Ripple Star and Pop Star aren't lands to be underestimated," the queen of Ripple Star said, "We won't back down from the fight."

"For the glory of the Triforce we shall fight and we shall prevail!" the king of Hyrule proclaimed.

"Good then," Peach replied, "We're all in."

"Should we establish a few rules first?" the queen of Ripple Star suggested.

"All's fair in war," the king of Hyrule said.

"Funny, that sounds just like Andross," General Pepper cut in.

"Hush!" Peach tried to silence the group.

"No execution of POWs," General Pepper began.

"Or attacks on major civilian populations," Peach added.

"And we suspend all melee matches in our respective nations," the queen of Ripple Star said.

"So this isn't a needless killing war," the General said. "Once one of us signs a treaty of surrender that nation has lost the war, agreed?"

"Agreed," the three other leaders replied in unison.

"Oh, and by the way," Peach began. "We're ready for you."

Peach and the king of Hyrule disconnected from the electronic conference. Their view screens went blank.

"I do have some good news," the queen of Ripple Star told General Pepper. "I have enlisted the aid of Kirby to try and get Pop Star to join us."

"Great," General Pepper replied. "What kind of military do you have exactly?"

"Well, officially nothing much. We've never been in a large war but we can pull a force together."

"Oh, that's super," the general said with a hint of sarcasm. "We will be setting up a forward base on Mushroom Kingdom once night befalls that planet. From there we hope to send a team to the castle and capture the princess before their war effort can escalate."

"We'll keep in touch," the queen said. Pepper nodded and disconnected from the conference.

Pepper turned to one of his officers.

"How long till nightfall in the Mushroom Kingdom?" Pepper asked.

"28 minutes," the officer replied. "We expect to move out in exactly one standard hour."

"Perfect."


	3. Nightfall

War of the Melee Worlds

Chapter 3 – Nightfall

By Pelican (Pelican_13@yahoo.com)

The Mushroom Kingdom was now shrouded in darkness but it was far from devoid of activity. Messengers sent from the castle and surrounding cities had been dispatched to prepare the forces of the kingdom for an invasion. Peach, Mario, and Luigi were in the main room of the castle discussing several topics, many including the war.

"So do-a we not-a fight in melee anymore?" asked Mario.

"I don't think you should," Peach answered, "It isn't safe anymore."

"Let's-a be realistic," Luigi announced, "How-a do we-a fight-a Corneria?"

"What do you mean?" Peach inquired.

"They-a have-a those space ships and guns," Luigi replied.

"We have ways of fighting," Peach stated.

"With what?" Mario asked.

"Fireballs, mushrooms, and our toad armies," Peach said proudly. "Our weapons are different than what you are used to but they work."

Elsewhere, in a forest region of the kingdom a black Yoshi stood on a tree stump above the rest of his tribe. The members of his tribe all sat around him; they were of every Yoshi color and wore armor made of mostly wood tied together with rope.

"Warriors of the Engalle tribe!" the leader addressed. "The nations of the Lylat System and Ripple Star have declared war on the Mushroom Kingdom!" he informed. A few muffled gasps and conversation could be heard among the tribe. The leader raised his hand and the warriors quieted.

"These nations are more advanced and will most likely attack soon," the leader continued. "On behalf of the honor of our planet we must fight!"

"Raa!" called a few of the warriors with their fists raised. The black Yoshi raised his hand once more and the group silenced.

"We will send scouts to areas that the enemy might try to land. If we find them we can catch them by surprise and attack. We can aid the Mushroom Kingdom in expelling all foreign powers from our soil!"

"My liege! Our scouts have reported nothing unusual," reported one Hylian guard to the king.

"Good, but make sure they remain on the alert," the king replied. 

"Sir, if I may suggest a possible enemy strategy," the guard continued.

"Go ahead," replied the king of Hyrule.

"We aren't patrolling the Desert Colossus or the Gerudo valley. It may be possible that Ganondorf and the Gerudos will ally with the Cornerians to defeat us," the guard suggested.

"That would seem unlike Ganondorf," the king said. He began to think for a moment. "We had best consider it an option the enemy may take. Post a few guards outside the Gerudo Valley."

In the Mushroom Kingdom the first step of an offensive set in play by General Pepper was commencing. In the dead of night large Cornerian Battlecruisers and transports began to descend towards an open field no more than 200 kilometers away from the castle. The cruisers and battleships scanned the area for any hostile forces or any enemy scouts. Several small drop ships landed and opened the doors to their large cargo holds. Ground forces, infantry and vehicles, rolled out onto the Mushroom Kingdom. Infantry began setting up tents and branching out searching for anyone that may have witnessed their landing. As most drop ships landed the Cornerians used the constant wave of materials to bring up a few buildings. They were nothing more than four wooden walls and a roof but they could serve as barracks or hangars.

Unknown to the Cornerian force their operation was being observed by a single soul, a Yoshi from a tribe that vowed to help the Mushroom Kingdom. He was light blue in color and wore a wooden plate mail around his chest and a bandanna that was no more than a stripe of black cloth. As a few guards began to walk towards the bushes that he was taking cover in he turned and ran.

"Did you hear that?" one Cornerian infantryman asked his comrade.

"What?" the other soldier returned.

"I thought I heard something moving in those bushes," the first guard said while pointing.

"Let's go check it out," suggested the second Cornerian.

As they arrived they found no trace of anything that could have been observing them. They surveyed the surrounding area, on the ground and in the trees, but found nothing.

"Think it might have been something?" the soldier that had heard nothing asked.

"I guess it was just the wind."

At the headquarters of the Cornerian Army Pepper was still in the communications room awaiting word from the first team sent to the Mushroom Kingdom. He was nervously pacing around the room, being watched by a few skeptical Cornerian officers and guards.

"Sir!" one of the officers called. He was sitting behind a desk looking into a computer screen. "We have an incoming transmission from the surface of the Mushroom Kingdom!"

"On screen," the general commanded.

One of the view screens activated and an image from the surface was displayed. Before the screen stood the commander of the operation and a few enlisted infantrymen.

"Great news, sir! We've landed safely on the surface and it appears we are undetected!" the commander reported. "Also we've begun setting up hangars, garages, and barracks."

"Hopefully they won't be needed for long," the general replied. "This is good news though. Great job, boys."

The infantrymen saluted, followed by the commander of the operation. Their view screen went black and in a second reactivated with a few from the bridge of one of the cruisers. The intergalactic warship's bridge was centered around their view screen with several seats and consoles for the men and women in the highest command of primary functions of the ship. The captain sat in the middle of the bridge in his special chair.

"Greetings, General," the ship's captain addressed. Most of the men in command in the ship were busy punching in buttons on their futuristic consoles. One stood out in particular, not being a canine but a dark furred lupine. The wolf sat to the right of the captain.

"So far we have no reports of being spotted. No enemies have been found in the area," the captain reported.

"We have hangars ready to contain exactly twelve fighters. We expect to be able to hold the full eighty-six within three standard hours," the lupine reported.

"This doesn't include the castle strike team craft or our spy planes," the captain added.

"Very good," the General praised. "Let me know when we send out the first flights."

On another view screen the face of an avian appeared. He wore the helmet of a Cornerian pilot and had red feathers outlining his face. Behind him was a plain metal wall, suggesting his cockpit was that of a smaller ship.

"Captain, our group of transports is preparing to land," the bird informed.

"Alright," the Captain replied. "General, I'm afraid I'll have to make sure these transports get where they need to be. We'll keep you posted here."

In the Cornerian Army's headquarters both view screens went blank and Pepper nodded slightly to himself.

"All is going according to plan."

The queen of Ripple Star and Ribbon were in the main room of the fairy castle on Ripple Star, eagerly awaiting any word from Kirby on Pop Star. The room was full of inhabitants of the planet of all kinds but mostly men ready to fight and a few people passing out Star Rods. Suddenly, the doors of the castle flew open and a few fairy children stood in the frame.

"Kirby!"

"Kirby's star is coming!"

"Where?" the queen asked.

"Up there!" one of the kids pointed to the sky. The queen hurried out the door, followed by Ribbon and a few volunteer military soldiers. They looked towards the sky to see Kirby on his Warp Star, followed by several other warp stars. They were heading straight towards the surface of the planet, not far from the capital city. Within moments all stars impacted the surface.

"Let's go!" one of the fairy soldiers ordered. He flew forward and was followed by several others armed with Star Rods. Kirby and his team began to walk towards the city. His team was composed of nine Waddle Dees who each had their own Warp Star for interplanetary transport. On the edge of the city limits Kirby's team met the fairy militia.

"Hiii!" Kirby greeted.

"Kirby!" one of the fairies said, "The queen needs to see you!"

"I'm here!" came a voice from behind the militia. It was the queen, who was trying to keep up with the militiamen. Her glasses were bouncing all over her face as she ran. She reached the others and stopped.

"Hiii!" Kirby said again.

"What is the word from Pop Star?" the queen asked hastily.

"Dedede helped us get word out to everyone on Pop Star," Kirby reported. He raised a fist to his chest. "We will help you!"


	4. The Cornerians are Coming!

War of the Melee Worlds

Chapter 4 – "The Cornerians are Coming!"

By Pelican (Pelican_13@yahoo.com)

About one hour had passed. The Cornerians had established a frontline base on the soil of the Mushroom Kingdom and were highly active, preparing for more arrivals and an invasion of the enemy kingdom. Hyrule continued to prepare for an imminent invasion and guard posts were established throughout the kingdom. Pop Star and Ripple Star both began arming men to fight and had also sent word to other planets in their solar system, such as Shiver Star and Rock Star. The Mushroom Kingdom had no knowledge of the Cornerian's actions this night but one lone scout of a nearby Yoshi tribe ran swiftly with the news to the nearest town. He spotted a village on the horizon. From his large proximity he could only make out a few buildings and a main road that ran through the village. He continued to run. He knew that potentially the fate of the Mushroom Kingdom rested on his endured feet. Although an athletic Yoshi to say the least, fatigue was beginning to set in. He started down the main road of the village and, although almost out of breath, began yelling.

"The Cornerians are coming! The Cornerians are coming!" he yelled warnings in the dead of night. "Get your army ready! The Cornerians are coming!"

The village was composed of about 10 buildings with shutters for windows, all of which were closed for the night. As the scout ran down the road to another Mushroom Kingdom city the light turned on in one of the houses. A senior toad with a long white beard opened the shutters to this window facing the main street.

"Shut up! We're trying to sleep!" He closed the shutter and murmured to himself, "Prankster, what's all this about Cornerians and what not." The village had no knowledge of the upcoming war.

In the skies over the throne city on Ripple Star four more Warp Stars were entering the atmosphere. They were piloted, or rather hanging onto them, were four waddle dees wearing green military camouflage. Their Warp Stars soon landed, or impacted, on the planet's surface. They each jumped off their Warp Star, having suffered no damage from the impact, and began to walk towards the capital city. Shortly after they were approached by a few armed waddle dees from the city.

"Halt!" the city waddle dees hailed, "Identify yourself!"

"We've come from Shiver Star!" the leader of the foreign team responded.

"We want to help!" another Shiver Star waddle dee called.

The two militias approached each other. All wore similar attire and were armed with Star Rods.

"We come with the response from Shiver Star," the leader began. "We will aid Ripple Star and Corneria!"

"That's great news!" the leader of the city defense forces proclaimed. "Please come with us to see the queen! She must hear this!"

While the seeds of a massive conflict were being planted all over the galaxy two well-know figures managed to slip away from the worried public's eye. Princess Zelda and Link, melee fighters for Hyrule, looked down on the kingdom from atop Death Mountain. From their location at the very summit they could observe as far as Lake Hylia in the South. The sun was setting and the young couple must have had the best view in the kingdom.

"I…just don't know what to do," Zelda began.

"I know what you mean," Link replied.

"Does my father actually think he can win this?"

"Why do you doubt him?"

"I don't exactly," Zelda answered, "it just seems that a war is going too far."

"I understand," Link said reassuringly, "but Hyrule is full of warriors. We can fight."

"It all seems so trivial. Not only that but we have friends on the other side of this conflict…Fox, Kirby, Falco."

"But it isn't like Hyrule to back down," Link added.

"How do you think this will all play out?" Zelda asked. There was a hint of fear in her voice.

Link reassured her. "It will be alright in the end."

Zelda looked up at the sky. Hyrule, of course, had no aircraft and nothing more than birds were usually seen in the sky. Her expression showed how unsure she was of herself, her father, and everything.

"You don't want to stay here, do you," Link said.

"What?" Zelda asked. Link's statement was abrupt, but it didn't surprise her. "How did you know?"

"Something about you just told me," Link replied. "I'm with you wherever you want to go, that is if we have a way of leaving."

"I do," Zelda said. She held in her hand a Deku Nut. She brought it into clear view for Link. "I learned a little teleporting trick from Impa."

"Nice," Link replied impressed. "Where exactly do we go?"

"It doesn't matter to me…Kanto, Termina, Johto, Mute City," Zelda said. "Just get close to me."

Link moved closer to Zelda to where they were sitting side-by-side. Zelda looked at Link and smiled. Link smiled back reassuringly. Looking into Link's eyes, Zelda threw the nut to the ground and in a flash both Hylians had disappeared.

In Corneria City the situation was looking basically the same. Pepper and several high ranked officers gave orders from their safe location among the city's skyscrapers to their newly established field location in the Mushroom Kingdom. Pepper had moved to his personal ready room in one of the top floors of the building. He looked below to the many activities of everyday life in Corneria City. As he kept a silent and thoughtful vigil by a large window an enlisted soldier entered.

"General, sir!" he said. The general looked back to see who had addressed him.

"Sir," the soldier gave a salute, "we have the recon photos from Hyrule."

General Pepper left the ready room for the comm room, still thinking about the war and the possible outcomes. He entered the windowless room and closed the door behind him.

"What do you have for me?" he asked.

Two officers were already waiting. They sat around a lit table with several enlarged photos.

"We've discovered Hyrule's defensive strategy," one of the officers informed.

General Pepper stood over the two and looked down at the photos. The other officer held a wooden pointer stick.

"Hyrule has set up multiple guard stations," the other officer stated. He began to point to areas on the photos. "Lake Hylia, the entrance to Gerudo Valley, the entrance to Kokiri Forest, Death Mountain Pass," the officer listed.

"It appears that they are waiting for our attack. Then they will dispatch the military force they have building around the castle."

The General looked down at the photo of Hyrule Castle. The field was lined with tents and soldiers. Individuals were too hard to make out because of the spy plane's altitude but Corneria had apparently discovered Hyrule's strategy.

"There's more," the first officer began. "We've found an undefended area, Lon Lon Ranch."

"That place that makes the famous milk?" the general asked.

"The very same. It's almost directly in the middle of all their guard outposts," the other officer answered.

"This could prove useful," the general stated. "But I would rather have the Mushroom Kingdom surrender before preparing to attack Hyrule."

"From what we've seen so far Hyrule should be pretty easy to take," an officer said boldly.

"All this about Hyrule aside," the general began, "do you think it would be wise to contact Star Fox?"

The two intelligence analysts looked at each other a moment and then looked back up at their general.

"With all due respect, sir," the first officer began, "It seems unnecessary. Our team will move out in Mushroom tomorrow and after they surrender it is likely Hyrule will follow."

"I know we don't exactly need them. Our army had been rebuilt and is running strong," the general began, "but it was during Fox's match that this war began and it's our fault his and all melee representatives in warring nation's matches were canceled. I just think our operation will go smoother with Fox and his team fighting alongside us."

"Yes sir," both officers replied simultaneously.

"I can personally take care of contacting Great Fox," the second officer offered.

"Do it," the general ordered. "Let's do this without any slip-ups."

The waddle dee team from Shiver Star, escorted by the city's defense force, arrived at the palace. The leader of the foreign team approached the queen and bowed.

"We've come from Shiver Star," he informed. "Shiver Star has decided to help you in the war! Our factories have begun producing in full force!"

"That's great news!" the queen replied. "Soon we should have our entire system on our side."

Ribbon flew into the room hastily. "Queen!" she called.

"What is it, Ribbon?" the queen asked.

"I have great news! I got a call from Rock Star, they've decided to help us in the war!"

"Excellent."

"Do you think I should call Aqua Star?" Ribbon asked.

"If they decided to help us they would reply," the queen answered.

"They don't have much there anyway," the leader of the Shiver team cut in. "With our production capabilities on your side no way we can lose."

"And our ally is Corneria," Ribbon added. "They've fought more wars than anyone."

"Let's not get over confident," the queen stopped the celebration. "We have yet to engage our enemies."

The queen of Ripple Star continued war discussion with the Shiver Star team. Hyrule's guard posts kept a close eye on the skies over their kingdom. The Mushroom Kingdom's armies were armed and ready for war, but were unaware of the Cornerian Army's base within their borders. A lone scout from one of the Yoshi tribes continued his nonstop marathon back to his tribe's citadel. Link and Zelda left Hyrule and the Star Fox team had been hailed by Corneria. Activity continued, but no shots have been fired and no hostilities had been made by any nation. Not yet, anyway.


	5. Enemy Spotted

War of the Melee Worlds

Chapter 5 – Enemy Spotted

By Pelican (Pelican_13@yahoo.com)

In the Mushroom Kingdom daybreak was less than an hour away. The Cornerian base, which was being referred to as Fort Midnight by the army men, was equipped with rows of hangars, four barracks buildings, a few surrounding guard towers, and two dirt runways. At one end of the main runway a Cornerian spy plane had been taxied into position for takeoff. Its wingspan was longer than that of a Cornerian Fighter's. It was equipped with several high definition cameras on its lower side. The pilot looked like most Cornerians. His visor covered most of his face. Around him stood a few members of the fight crew. The plane's engines were still off as the team awaited the order from General Pepper to allow him to takeoff.

Back on Corneria the General was with several other officers in the comm room. A transmission came in on the screen. The view was from just in front of the first spy plane to be launched.

"General Pepper!" addressed a soldier standing before the plane.

The officers in the comm room turned towards the view screen.

"The first spy plane will takeoff on your order," the soldier informed.

"Do it already," the general ordered.

"Yes, sir!" the soldier replied while saluting. The view screen went blank.

On the runway the flight crew cleared the area. The pilot ignited his plane's engines and began down the runway, increasing speed as he went. To the left and right of him lines of hangars housed fighters waiting for the time they would be put to use. As he neared the end of the designated runway he eased back on the control stick and the plane lifted off into the air. The plane continued to ascend at about thirty degrees until it was at a safe distance above from any AA the enemy might use. The Cornerians didn't expect that they would be tracked, however.

"Captain, take a look at this!" one toad called. He was in alone in a dark room watching a circular radar screen. Another toad entered the room and looked at the radar screen. As the green line swept in a clockwise rotation a green dot showed up northeast of them.

"Can you tell what it is?" the captain asked.

"No," the radar watcher replied, "but I don't think we have anything flying over there."

"How far is it?"

"75 kilometers and closing," the watcher answered. "It looks like it's gaining altitude."

"That means it took off from the ground! I'll have to inform the castle immediately!"

As daybreak approached in the Mushroom Kingdom the sole witness to the Cornerian Army's landing arrived at his tribe's citadel. Few Yoshis remained as most were dispatched as scouts. The leader of the warriors was there, however.

"I…found…them," the scout said, gasping for breath.

"Northwest…of the…village…near the…blue warp pipe," the scout informed.

"How many of them? What were they doing?" the black Yoshi asked hastily. The scout opened his mouth to reply, but fell over and landed on his face. His mouth remained open and he was still breathing heavily. The black Yoshi turned to one of his warriors, a green Yoshi standing a few meters away.

"You there!" he called, "Get all the remaining warriors and have them meet here! Now!"

The green Yoshi nodded and ran off to perform his task.

"Copy that, Fort Midnight," the pilot responded. "So far I've spotted no enemy radar or any significant installations. Nothing worthy of informing the general about so far."

The spy plane continued towards Peach's castle, it was about halfway to its destination. For the pilot, this was a walk in the park. Flying above the range of any Mushroom Kingdom weapon to take pictures of the castle and then come back and land was too easy. To further avoid from being spotted he had no escorting fighters. They wouldn't make much of a difference anyway because the Mushroom Kingdom has no air force.

On Fort Midnight base operations began to slow. Troops got some rest in their barracks and construction was complete. Around the base a larger-scale scouting operation was taking place. The Cornerians were using attack jeeps for ground reconnaissance. One soldier drove the jeep while an armed man occupied the passenger seat. Behind both of them a large machine gun was mounted and one infantryman operated it. The first three jeeps entered the village the Yoshi scout had ran through first during the night. A few soldiers dismounted and rounded up the civilian population.

"Ghostrider leader here," the commander of the recon team said into his radio. "We've reached a small village, no more than 10 buildings, and have begun extracting civilians. We could use this as a garrison."

"Copy that," came the response, "we'll send some backup. Put the village's population in the building closest to the fort."

"Yes, sir. We're taking the last building as we speak."

"These are all the warriors that were left," the green Yoshi reported. Behind him stood seven other warriors from his tribe in full battle gear.

"Well let's not waist any time," the leader suggested. "We move out now."

"Lead the way."

The black Yoshi began the long run towards the village the scout had spoken of. He was followed closely by his squad. They kept a strenuous pace but did not move as fast as the brave scout had previously. They would need to be able to stand when they reached the village.

The spy plane came within 4 kilometers of the radar station the toads had first spotted him from.

"Wait, I think I found something," the pilot reported into his radio. "It's emitting a strange signal."

"Can you identify it?" the military air traffic controller asked.

"I think it's," the pilot stopped in the middle of his sentence.

"What?"

"Radar!"

"What? A radar signal?"

"Affirmative!" the pilot replied. "They must already know I'm here!"

"Get a few exposures of their station. Something might as well come from this."

"Roger."

The pilot changed his bearing slightly so he would fly directly above the radar installation. He looked down at his spy camera screen and began hitting the exposure button. Several camera shutter clicks could be heard as the plane was directly over the enemy building.

"I've got the pictures. Moving onto the castle."

"Confirmed. We'll alert the base and let them know we've been spotted."

In the spy's target, the castle itself, one of the butler toads ran up a flight of stairs to the bedchamber of the princess. He threw open the doors.

"Princess! Wake up! This is important!"

Reluctantly, the princess sat up. She had gotten only a few hours of sleep.

"The Cornerians! Our radar stations are tracking one of their spy planes!"

Peach yawned once, still partially asleep. The butler toad was jumping up and down.

"Wake up! Wake up! The Cornerian plane is coming this way!"

Peach looked a little confused and tired. "What plane?"

"The enemy plane that took off from somewhere in our kingdom! The enemy landed here in the middle of the night!"

"Do they," Peach yawned in the middle of her sentence, "have a passport?"

"Ahh!" the toad screamed, still jumping up and down. He continued to try to explain the situation.

Over an ocean near the established Cornerian base a large command ship was flying low. It was metallic and color and had a particular shape. It had four wings in the shape of an X and a large slanted tail. It had a landing stripe inside above the three engines. The cockpit was on a much thinner area and well in front of the craft. Directly below it were two large cannons. Most inhabitants of the Lylat System would have recognized it as the Star Fox mercenary team's command ship, Great Fox. Inside the four Star Fox pilots were discussing the war.

"Why exactly does Pepper need us?" Falco asked. He and the other pilots were sitting in the lounge on the ship. "From he told us he's already about to win the war."

"I know," Fox replied, "but he thinks it will all go smoother with us."

"Even with Slippy?" asked Peppy.

"Hey!" Slippy shot back.

The intercom system began sounding static, then ROB64's voice was heard. "Star Fox, we are approaching the Cornerian base."

"Well, might as well go see what they've got so far," Fox suggested. He got up and left for the cockpit, followed by the members of his team. At the cockpit the four ARWING pilots got a nice view of the shoreline. They ascended slightly so as to not hit any trees. Reaching land marked they were less than 20 kilometers away from the base.

Meanwhile, in the skies above Peach's Castle, the Cornerian spy plane was about to pass directly over his target. He began snapping photos as he was above the valley in which the castle had been constructed. There were few garrisons and guards patrolling but the photos could at least be used for more information on the castle. Eventually, the plane circled back and flew towards its base of origin.

Night was about to befall Corneria City. General Pepper remained in the comm room, which had become more of a war intelligence room. The HQ received a hail from Fort Midnight.

"We're being hailed," informed a communications officer. He activated one of the view screens against the wall. The installation commander appeared.

"General Pepper?"

Pepper arose from his seat amongst the military commanders. "What is it?"

"The Mushroom Kingdom knows we're here," the commander regrettably informed. "Our first spy plane was able to locate one of their radar stations."

"So now they know we had a plane in their airspace but do they know we have a base?"

"Most likely they tracked it as it ascended," the commander answered.

"Ah well," the general replied almost carelessly, "The base is up and running and fully defended."

"Yes sir!" the commander proudly replied. "We've also garrisoned the nearest village. Civilian population is exactly 32."

"How far away is it from the base?"

"About 20 kilometers. A road that runs directly from the area around the castle ends there," the installation chief announced. "But that isn't our only news. The Star Fox team is a few minutes away from our location. They should be here shortly."

"Good," was all the general had as a reply.

With the spy plane's successful mission, the garrison of the nearest mushroom village, and the arrival of the Star Fox team it looked like the conflict arising on the Mushroom Kingdom was weighed heavily in Corneria's favor. However, near the captured Mushroom Kingdom village the warriors of a devout Yoshi tribe watched their enemies from a few surrounding bushes and trees. The village had been centered in a clearing in the dense forest, which provided the Yoshis an easy way to study their enemies without being spotted. The windows of the buildings were closed, some boarded up, and a few armed soldiers and attack jeeps prowled the area. The leader of the tribe motioned a few of his warriors to the edge of the forest. Carefully, they watched and waited for a moment the Cornerian Army would slip up and give them an opportunity to get in and attack.


	6. First Strike

War of the Melee Worlds

Chapter 6 – First Strike

By Pelican (Pelican_13@yahoo.com)

"Everyone, come here!" came a voice from the center of the village. Several patrolling Cornerian soldiers began to walk towards the call of their commander. Three dismounted an attack jeep in plain view of the Yoshis and walked around a building to the main road. The warrior's leader, the green Yoshi from before, and a dark blue Yoshi took advantage of the opportunity and made a mad dash for the attack jeep.

"We have to report in to the main fort," the commander began as the bulk of the village's garrisoning forces surrounded him. "I want to make this operation look extra smooth!"

The black Yoshi jumped into the driver's seat. The green Yoshi took the passenger's seat and the dark blue Yoshi manned the fully loaded machine gun while standing. The black Yoshi hit the gas and the jeep sprung forward. It jerked a little as it began. None of the three Yoshis had ever driven and it was uncomfortable enough just for them to sit in the attack vehicle. The garrison force began to set up a video camera and did not even notice the motor noises on the sides of one of the village buildings.

The six remaining warriors pushed forward through the foliage. They left in the direction the three had taken the jeep, directly towards the Cornerian fort!

While the events at the nearby garrisoned town went unknown to the Cornerians the base's activities had slowed. Most of the areas that were once being patrolled by several guards were now left empty. Surrounding areas of the base weren't being watched as hard as they were when the base was being established. The stolen attack jeep traveled unopposed and unnoticed through a small cut clearing. After getting out of site of the Cornerian garrison the leader of the tribe stopped the jeep and began looking for the other warriors. Eventually the team left over caught up and stepped out from their forest of sanctuary on the side of the road.

"Master," one of the warriors addressed.

"Get on! All of you!" the chief commanded. "We have some of their guns."

"What are we going to do?" another warrior asked.

"We're going straight for their base, we'll let you off before we get there and you can sneak in."

The six found places on the jeep, most hanging over the edge, and grabbed onto a part of the exterior frame. When all were ready the tribe began back on their way to the base, unaware of how fortified it was and what opposition they would face.

Overhead on the base a formation of four Cornerian fighters had taken to the sky. Their flight path took them almost directly over the hijacked army jeep. The warriors watched the squadron fly overhead with interest and a newfound sense of fear.

"They have planes!" one of the warriors hanging off the right side of the jeep called.

"Should I shoot at them?" the dark blue Yoshi manning the machine gun asked.

"No," answered the black Yoshi behind the wheel, "but be ready to shoot when we get into the base."

Inside the hall of the Mushroom Kingdom Castle Peach, Mario, and Luigi were having a discussion. Peach had finally awoken and was informed of the detected enemy spy plane. Mario was bringing an interesting point to the attention of the princess.

  
"They-a have an airforce and have-a begun flying over here," Mario restated. "I think we need to get some aircraft of our own."

"But-a how, Mario?" Luigi asked.

"I remember Yoshi's Island and-a Donut Plains," Mario began, "and on that adventure I fought Bowser in-a strange clown car."

"I remember," Peach replied, "I was kidnapped and held in it!"

"Yeah, you stole are the glory," Luigi said jealously.

"Well-a maybe we can-a get Bowser's help and mass produce them for our army," Mario suggested.

"How would Bowser help us make these?" Peach asked.

"He-a knows about these things," Luigi answered. "Remember his flying ship?"

"I destroyed it," Mario responded.

"So-a we ask-a Bowser for help?" Luigi asked, a little confused.

"Do you think he'll help us?" Peach asked Mario.

"I'm-a not guaranteeing anything," Mario replied, "but it's worth a shot."

"Mario, you and I should go. Peach-a needs to order the armies," Luigi offered.

"Very well," Peach replied. "You two go, and try to be back as soon as possible."

"Let's-a go!" Mario said as he turned and ran out the main door followed by Luigi.

On the longest runway of Fort Midnight the largest plane was lined up for takeoff. It looked like an old cargo plane with its four propeller engines.

"Why do we still use these old things?" one on looking soldier asked.

"I know," replied another enlisted man, "propellers are ancient!"

Ten Cornerian soldiers began to approach the cargo plane from a hangar, but these didn't look like normal infantrymen. They wore all black and were armed with an array of different firearms. They each had an assault rifle strapped on their chest, two sidearms in holders on both their leggings, and their helmets supported different visors and was larger than even that of a pilot's. The cargo door of the old plane was open and the ten waited around its entrance. Inside the plane walls had been lines with guns and seats made from old nets. Although the special ops team had no specific orders, they waited in full battle gear.

The two Yoshis in the front seats of the jeep noticed activity on the horizon. The road they were using had narrowed to having no more than half a meter on each side and ran straight all the way to the base. The jeep stopped and the warriors dismounted, save the driver, passenger, and gunner.

"We're going to make a distraction," the black Yoshi informed. "I want you to shoot anything that can shoot back," he said while pointed to the dark blue Yoshi.

"And you," he turned to the warrior in the passenger seat, "if something gets too close to us shoot them."

The green Yoshi nodded and picked up an assault rifle that had been left in the jeep.

"Let's give them trouble!" the leader proclaimed. The team that would sneak in concealed themselves in the dense forest as the jeep moved forward. The warriors were swift and could almost keep up with the jeep. The gunner stood with his right hand on the trigger. A long chain of bullets formed a line to the gun's ammo intake, showing it had several rounds ready to fire. He had the weapon pointed forward and a little upwards.

At the entrance to the base stood two wooden guard towers. A ladder was the only way to reach the top and watching from them were two guards with machine guns similar to the one mounted on the attack jeeps. The base didn't consider itself in a state of threat and the gunners weren't watching the road below them. The first team drove right up to the towers.

The dark blue Yoshi aimed his gun at the tower left of the jeep, having to take a step to the right to line up his shots. He pulled the trigger and the gun erupted and began rapidly releasing bullets. The guard in the tower above was completely unsuspecting and the bullets pieced straight through the wood composing the tower and through him. The gunner quickly spun his mounted firearm to the right and opened fire. The guard had stood up and looked down at the source of the loud firing notice but didn't have his gun at his side. Several bullets riddled his body and he fell to the tower floor lifelessly.

From the other side of a nearby hangar three Cornerian guards ran to investigate. They were armed with standard assault rifles. They witnessed the attack on the second tower and took aim. The green Yoshi stood and aimed his stolen assault rifle. All opened fire at the same time. The Cornerian's bullets hit the front of the jeep for the most part, but one well-placed shot hit the Yoshi manning the gun. He fell off the jeep. The green Yoshi's shots hit one Cornerian guard. He dropped to the ground prone.

The black Yoshi stepped on the gas and the jeep accelerated past the two remaining guards, who kept opening fire. Both Yoshis ducked down to avoid being hit. An air raid alarm sounded throughout the base as the jeep reached one of the smaller runways. Two attack jeeps began pursuing. Both Cornerian jeeps had the fell crew compliment of three and began to attack. The large machine guns wreaked havoc on the back of the stolen vehicle. One tire was pierced and the Yoshi's jeep began to slide on the metal of its axis. The force of friction slowed the jeep to a stop. The Cornerians continued opening fire.

The Yoshis left alive took cover on the opposite side of their inoperable jeep. Unsuspecting to them, they had been cornered by another Cornerian group. This group was composed of six armed soldiers and one officer wielding a pistol. The Cornerians shot first and the Yoshis didn't stand a chance. Both went down. The brave warriors that heroically, and maybe unwisely, charged the enemy fort lay dead, along with three guards. More jeeps and soldiers began to converge on their location with guns drawn.

The team sneaking in had no knowledge of their leader's defeat. They reached the outskirts of the base and charged in. The found it to be unguarded and surveyed their area. They were at the end of one of the smaller runways, which was lined with hangars. A red Yoshi ran towards one of the nearest hangars.

"I'm going to try to get one of their planes!" he called as he ran. The other Yoshis followed his example and went for other hangars. A pink and a sky blue Yoshi noticed a strange hangar. It appeared to be attached to another building, unlike the others. The large door wasn't open but they ran to a smaller door that led to the main room. The pink Yoshi kicked it open and stepped in. Inside waited four different fighter planes. These did not resemble Cornerian Fighters at all and had very different decals. They design was also much sleeker. Four rested in a row against a large device that supplied them with energy and kept them suspended above the ground.

"Hey! Freeze!" came a voice from another part of the hangar. It was from a guard, who had his weapon aimed at the two intruders. "Hands up!" he ordered.

The pink Yoshi slowly raised his hands, but the sky blue Yoshi had a plan other than surrender. He opened his mouth and using his skilled tongue grabbed the weapon from the solder's hands. He wielded it himself and aimed it at the soldier. Before the soldier reacted defensively he was shot three times in the chest.

The first Yoshi to commandeer a fighter had made his way into the cockpit. Frantically, he began pushing buttons in an attempt to get the plane started. Unknown to him, a guard entered the hangar through the back door and heard something strange in the cockpit of the plane. He climbed the ladder leading to the cockpit to find a Yoshi attempting to start the plane! Promptly, he withdrew his sidearm from its holder and shot the enemy in the back of the head. Blood filled the other side of the cockpit.

Another Yoshi, a yellow one this time, had made his way into a plane and activated the engine. The plane began moving forward, out of the hangar. He took hold of the joystick and managed to get his plane lined up with the runway. He wasn't well lined up but was able to pull up eventually. The fighter began to roll to the right and he took hard hold of the joystick to correct the abnormality. He jerked the stick too hard and the plane began to fall to the left. He shouted as he saw the roof of a hangar getting closer and closer.

An explosion was heard as a green Yoshi from the infiltration team stepped into the cockpit of an unoccupied jet. He managed to activate the engine and the plane began moving forward.

"How do I turn this thing?" he said to himself. He passed the runway and was heading straight towards the opposite row of hangars.

In the hangar nearest to the forest a Cornerian looked down at his kill, an infiltrating red Yoshi. He removed his helmet and ran his paw over his head. He heard an engine noise getting louder and looked towards the runway in time to see another fighter heading his way.

"Ahhhhh!" called the green Yoshi as his plane got closer and closer to the parked one in the hangar. The two planes collided and the building went up in an explosion, along with the two at ground zero of the impact.

On the runway a Yoshi that had done exceptionally well in figuring out the flight controls, a white one, lined his stolen fighter up for takeoff. He gained speed and pulled back on the joystick. His plane took to the sky, in a better way than the previous Yoshi's takeoff attempt. He ascended at a 45-degree angle and was soon high enough to see the entire base, if he could see below him. However, he kept his angle and continued to gain altitude at this incline. He went higher than he ever thought he could go and soon the plane was out of reach of guns mounted on the ground.

The two in the strange hangar entered the cockpits of two of the odd fighters. The hangar door was closed but the two had something else planned to escape. The pink Yoshi continued to try to figure out how to work the advanced white fighter while the sky blue one pressed a wrong button. The large metal apparatus that all four fighters were docked to released one fighter and it shot forward at amazing speed. Unfortunately, it shot right into the door and exploded, shattering part of the door and the fighter.

The pink Yoshi only managed to see the hole in the hangar door left by the plane. He turned back to his control panel and pushed down on a button on the far side of his joystick. From both wings a blue laser beam fired, striking the door. He shot a few more times and the door was open enough for him to catapult through. He hit the launch button and the spacecraft blasted forward and outside the hangar. It quickly gained altitude and was above the level of the hangar roofs.

Two planes that had flown overhead the initial attack team before were still in the sky over the base. They noticed an explosion at the door of the hangar and one of the fighters shoot out. They positioned their crafts behind the hijacked one. The warrior never saw the air-to-air attack coming and his fighter was riddled with laser shots. The engine exploded and instead of a calm red propulsion fluid leaving from behind the engine a black smoke escaped the plane. The frame of the ship began to descend and crashed into a building below.

"One stolen ARWING down," one pilot reported over the radio. Another explosion was heard throughout the base.

"The base is under attack!" reported a radio in possession of the commander of the special ops team. "LAUNCH NOW!"

"You heard the man!" called the elite team's leader, "let's move out!"

The ten specially trained men boarded the cargo plane and the large door closed behind them. The old engines of the plane began to warm up and it started down the runway. Overhead two fighters were set to fly as escorts. The bulky transport plane took to the air and, along with its escorts, turned towards the castle. Below several buildings were aflame and smoke was rising into the air.

"What the heck happened here!?" asked a seriously mad pilot in the strange hangar. He didn't look like most Cornerians, he was a vulpine. Indeed, he wasn't a normal Cornerian, he was the famous mercenary and melee competitor, Fox McCloud.

"What is it?" came another voice from the building adjoining the hangar. It was that of another pilot in the mercenary unit Star Fox, Falco Lombardi. The avian pilot stepped into the hangar and witnessed the destruction.

"Ah! What the heck?" he said in disbelief.

"I know!" Fox's voice was aghast.

"Two of our ARWINGs are gone!" Falco yelled.

"Let's get into the air," Fox suggested. "It's probably safer."

"I'm with you!" replied Falco.

On the ground the Cornerians scrambled. Soldiers ran up and down hangars trying to find any additional intruders and the two Star Fox members that competed in melee were preparing for takeoff. One Yoshi remained alive, however. The white Yoshi from the infiltration team was nearing the outermost layer of the atmosphere of the planet. His stolen fighter hadn't even been slightly damaged and it looked like he would escape into the vacuum of space. That is, until a blip showed on his radar. He looked down at his console screen.

  
"Huh?" he asked himself. On the screen a large ship was showing up, and it appeared to be moving closer and closer to him. He began survey his surroundings the best he could through the glass of the fighter's canopy. At first the ship appeared tiny, but it was obviously getting larger.

"Oh..no," the untrained pilot said in disbelief. He watched a Cornerian Battleship drawing closer and closer to him.

Several laser cannons mounted on the ship aimed at the rogue fighter. The warrior was clueless as to how to avoid the enemy warship and did nothing but watch the guns take aim. Six red laser lines burst from the cannons and impacted the fighter. The pirated ship exploded in a ball of flames in space. Death came quick and painlessly to the pilot. The flames quickly extinguished in the vacuum of space. The attack had ended, but the devastation brought on the Cornerian stronghold was easy to perceive. A great war was now inevitable.


	7. Attack on the Castle

War of the Melee Worlds

Chapter 7 – Attack on the Castle

By Pelican (Pelican_13@yahoo.com)

In the Cornerian war room General Pepper and several other high ranking officers were checking over their strategy to put an early end to the war being fought far away in the Mushroom Kingdom. In the background a TV was tuned to a news station. A female anchor was reporting the current war status.

"…and we have the results of a telephone poll we've been conducting. Let's see how you the viewers feel about the war."

The screen changed to show three bars, labeled Support, Indifferent, and Do Not Support.

"Well, there you have it," reported another anchor's voice, "it looks like over sixty percent support the war, while most of the remainders are indifferent."

"General Pepper!" called a voice from the other side of the room. He appeared to be in some type of distress.

"What is it?" asked the general.

"I really think you should take a look at this!" he returned almost demandingly. The general arose from his seat and began to make his way over to the communications officer. As he got closer, he noticed the lower-ranked officer was looking over a piece of paper.

"What is it?" the general asked again as he drew closer.

The comm. officer spun around in his chair and handed the paper to the general. "Fort Midnight has been attacked," he said regrettably.

"What? No!" the general snatched the paper and looked over it furiously. "No!"

"Jeez, how did they sneak in on us like that?" asked a voice over the radio in the skies above the Mushroom Kingdom. The transmitter was Falco Lombardi, who was flying in an escort formation with Fox McCloud and two Cornerian pilots around the large cargo plane.

"Maybe they thought no one was around when they landed," Fox suggested.

"But we checked," the voice of one of the Cornerian pilots cut in. "We searched everywhere within a 15 kilometer radius! No one saw us set up a base."

"They knew exactly where you were," Fox responded.

"A smart enemy hits you where you think you are safe," the other Cornerian pilot imputed a common war proverb.

"At least it's going to be our turn to do some damage," Falco said vengefully.

"If they tracked our spy plane earlier then won't they be tracking us?" the first pilot asked.

"I propose we attack their radar stations on the way to the castle," the second pilot proposed.

"You two take care of that," Fox ordered, "and Falco and I will stay back with the commandos."

"Sure, give them all the fun," Falco said sarcastically.

The two Cornerian fighters broke formation and began to descend. The commando's plane and the two remaining escorts continued above cloud level on their way to the Mushroom Castle. 

Back on the ground on the road leading to the garrisoned village a group of mushroom soldiers were preparing to move. Several toads held Fire Flowers or Super Mushrooms. One in the back row wielded a large rocket launcher armed with a Bullet Bill. On the horizon the city came into view. They noticed no activity and continued marching forward. It wasn't until the platoon was almost within the village limits that the captain noticed something odd.

"It seems a little too quite," he noted to himself.

The ten rows of five toads entered the city, with the captain trailing the last line.

"Wait!" the captain issued an order. On command, all toads stopped as they were. "This isn't right. Find out where everyone went!"

Almost on cue, the wooden shutters on the buildings flung open. Cornerian machine gun fire began to rain down on the platoon occupying the main street. The Mushroom Kingdom soldiers had been completely boxed in. Within seconds, all toads had fallen without a chance of retaliation.

On the hill overlooking Princess Peach's Castle a flash of green light was seen. In a swirl of magical energy two figures transported in. They were the melee competitors from Hyrule, Link and Princess Zelda. They worriedly looked down on the seat of monarchy of their allies, the Mushroom Kingdom.

"I don't think we should be here," Zelda told Link.

"What's wrong?" Link asked.

"This war is just so stupid. I can't stand to be anywhere that participates in it."

"Hyrule isn't exactly innocent then," Link submitted.

"And that's why I don't want to be there either," Zelda replied.

"We're just here to see if anything isn't going well, then we can leave," Link explained.

"Well do you see anything weird?" Zelda asked.

The sound of a propeller engine was growing in the sky. Link and Zelda looked up to see the commando's transport plane and two ARWINGs flying escort.

"I think that qualifies," Link said, still with his eye on the incoming planes.

"Should we do something? I thought we wanted to stay out of this," Zelda added.

The cargo doors of the old plane slowly opened. The commando team stood off their crude benches and grabbed their parachutes.

"Go! Go! Go!" ordered the commando leader. The first soldier jumped out of the plane and pulled his chute. He was followed close behind by the other members of the team and the commander jumped last. Link and Zelda watched on as the ten large cargo parachutes began to descend towards the valley in which the castle had been constructed. The team was well armed and was drawing within 100 meters of the ground.

"Should we do something?" Zelda asked.

"What should we do?" Link returned. "They probably have guns and airplanes backing them up."

"I can use my Din's Fire on the ARWINGs in the air and you can shoot those paratroopers down with your bow," Zelda suggested.

"I thought you wanted to stay out of this war," Link reminded. "What was all that about your father making rash decisions and wanting nothing to do with his business?"

"I guess I forgot about that," Zelda answered. "I guess I should let my father see where his decision will eventually lead him. Corneria will win."

The first commando landed on the surface. He detached this parachute and it blew away, carried by a gust of wind. Two others touched down next to him and unhooked their chutes. The held up their rifles and began towards the main door of the castle. Soon after, the other members of the team had landed and followed close behind. The first soldier crossed the bridge over the moat and kicked down the castle door. On either side of him another commando entered with his gun drawn.

"Put your hands up!" commanded the soldier entering on the left.

"Drop your weapons!" ordered the commando on the right. The first three stepped inside the great hall. Princess Peach was standing in the middle of the room, along with a general of her army and the royal butler. The first three ran to her and grabbed her by the arm.

"Come with me!" Peach struggled under the soldier's grasp but was outmatch by three military trained men.

The leader of the team turned on his radio and began to speak. "We have the target. Need immediate evac."

"Copy," came the response over the radio. The other members of the hit team aimed their guns in random directions, searching for anyone else in the room. The three carried the princess out the door while being surrounded by other commandos. They ran to a treeless area of the front lawn. The cargo plane steeply descended to their position and pulled up as it was directly over them. Its four propellers shifted position and faced upwards, keeping the plane in the air using the same mechanics as a helicopter. A rappel rope was lowered from the open cargo door. Two commandos climbed first. After they made it to the cargo hold another soldier rappelled up along with the apprehended princess. She continued to struggle but was bound to the rappel. The two reached the top and were pulled in by the first two commandos.

Off in the distance a loud sound was heard. It was the sound of footsteps, many men strong. The commandos left on the ground looked over to see a huge company of soldier toads charging towards the castle.

"Let's get out of here!" ordered the team captain. Two more commandos began to climb the rope to the hovering plane. Before that group reached the top two more began to climb. The rope was about 15 meters long, and climbing it was no easy task. It took a considerable amount of time, and the toad military drew ever closer. Two commandos began to open fire with their assault rifles. A few mushroom people went down, but the team found themselves surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered. The toads attacked at close range with punches and kicks. The massive number of them took the three Cornerians down fast. One toad grabbed the rappel rope as the plane began to ascend back into the air. Three commandos remained on the ground but the team had captured the leader of the Mushroom Kingdom. As the cargo plane gained altitude two ARWINGs and two Cornerian fighters formed on its wing. One soldier in the plane began to fire down on the toad climbing the rope. As he fell the aircraft turned back towards the fort.

In the cargo hold Peach's hands were bound behind her and two commandos kept their rifles up.

"You will be taken to our fleet and sign the treaty of surrender," a soldier yelled over the sound of the engine. Peach just sat and looked down at the metal floor, regretful that she and her kingdom have almost lost.

The four pilots flying escort began a radio conversation.

"Did you get all the radar stations?" Falco asked.

"Every one we've found," a Cornerian pilot answered.

"It doesn't matter," Fox cut in. "As soon as Peach signs the paper we've won."

"I just hope you guys didn't let another attack hit your fort," Falco ridiculed.

On the far-away heart-shaped planet called Ripple Star, in one of the larger buildings in the capital city a group of militia officials were looking over spy pictures hung up on a large wall. They had borrowed a few copies from the Cornerians. Six large black-and-white photos were pinned up. They were of many locations in the kingdom of Hyrule, one in particular was of Lon Lon Ranch, in the middle of Hyrule Field.

"This is their least defended area," one militia soldier said while pointing to the Lon Lon photograph. "If we set up where we can attack anywhere in the kingdom."

"Our supplies from Shiver Star should arrive in a few hours," a waddle dee reported.

"So are we really going to do this? Set up a base in the middle of their kingdom?" one worried soldier asked.

"Of course," the fairy pointing to the photos replied. "Why wouldn't we?"

"It's just…" the worried one began.

  
"Mark my words," the speaker interrupted, "we will fight and we will win through!"

After the two-hour flight, the four fighters and cargo plane arrived in the safe airspace above Fort Midnight. The propeller engine plane landed on the large runway in the middle of the base while the fighters occupied two smaller dirt runways. The two Star Fox ARWINGs remained in the air. As soon as the cargo carrier had come to a complete stop the doors opened and the team, along with their captive, transferred into a space shuttle. Within a minute of their landing they took off again, this time in a craft that could dock with the fleet in space. Fox and Falco continued to fly as escorts.

On Ripple Star a peccadillo was preparing to land in the capital city. It consisted of several interplanetary transports, on a larger scale than the queen's, which were designed to carry the newly formed Ripple Star militia and the allies from other star planets to the battlefield in far away Hyrule.


	8. The Space Fleet

War of the Melee Worlds

Chapter 8 – The Space Fleet

By Pelican (Pelican_13@yahoo.com)

The princess of the Mushroom Kingdom was being held in a jail cell aboard a large Cornerian carrier orbiting the planet. The captain and other senior officers would attempt to force her to sign a treaty of surrender and get her kingdom out of the war. She sat on a metal bench looking out through the steel bars. The room contained three other cells and one guard, a brown avian. On the bridge a member of the ship's security team entered.

"We have the princess," he informed. The captain and first officer arose and walked towards the door.

"Let's go and get this over with," the captain stated. He and his first officer followed the security worker.

In the brig two other guards entered, both large canines.

"The captain is on the way," the first guard informed the watchman and the princess. "You will sign a treaty that will surrender the Mushroom Kingdom from the war."

Peach never averted her attention towards the guards. She kept looking down at the floor with her hands holding up her head. A few moments later the captain, first officer, and another guard entered the room. The first officer held a piece of paper on a clipboard and an ink pen.

"Princess, let me get one thing straight," the captain began, "you will sign this-"

"I'm ready to sign," Peach interrupted.

The captain looked at this first officer a bit confused. He turned back to the captive. "Really? Alright then," he said in disbelief. "Sign it and it's all over."

The first officer handed the clipboard and pen to the princess. She looked over it for a few seconds, clicked the pen, and signed on the line. She handed the clipboard back to the first officer through the bars.

"Well… I guess that's it," the captain said unbelieving the spectacular quickness of the negotiation.

Zelda and Link had transported back to the highest point in Hyrule, Death Mountain. They had witnessed the capture of Princess Peach but until now had decided to do nothing about it.

"Okay, I changed my mind!" Zelda burst abruptly.

"What?" Link asked surprised.

"Let's go and get Peach back," Zelda said as she stood up.

"How?" Link again interrogated. "We don't know where they took her."

"We can find out," Zelda answered, "by asking one of the great fairies."

"Alright…" Link said passively. "But where?"

"There's one here on Death Mountain! Let's go," Zelda ordered.

A large portion of the capital city on Ripple Star was taken by intergalactic transports. The residents and the foreign allies were loading weapons and troops for the trip to Hyrule. Overlooking the entire operation was the queen, Ribbon, and Kirby. They stood on the balcony of the palace, which gave them a nice view of the city square.

"How many ships are there?" Ribbon asked.

"I'm not sure," Kirby replied. "Most of them came form Shiver Star."

A waddle dee entered the balcony. He approached the three dignified leaders.

"Kirby," he addressed. The three spun around to see him. "They say we can move out in about one hour. We're getting all the ships organized."

"Make sure to save a ship for me," Kirby replied.

"You're going?" Ribbon asked, shocked.

"Why shouldn't I?" Kirby responded.

"Good luck," the queen offered.

"I still don't think you have to go," Ribbon continued. "There are plenty going already."

"I'll just make sure everything works according to plan," Kirby assured.

The brig of the Cornerian Carrier was vacant and seemingly had no action when suddenly in a burst of green light Link and Princess Zelda transported using Farore's Wind. Link had his bow drawn and up and Zelda was ready to use a magical attack.

"No one's here," Zelda stated.

"So now what do we do?" Link asked. "Open the door and get in a gunfight?"

"Let's try and take someone's gun. We'll be more able to defend ourselves," Zelda suggested. Zelda walked towards the door and held her hand out towards a button. "Ready?"

Link aimed his bow towards the door. Zelda pushed the yellow button and the two metal doors slid open, revealing one of the ship's hallways. Link slowly walked out into the hallway.

"All clear," he informed. Zelda soon joined him and the door to the brig closed. The two advanced slowly. Link kept his bow drawn back and was ready to fire. The sound of footsteps on metal became more and more present. It was coming from around a corner in the hallway. An unsuspecting calico feline turned the corner. He was looking down at a piece of paper. Without warning, Link let his arrow fly. It pierced its target's heart and hit the wall on the other side.

"Aaaahhhh!" the victim screamed in pain. He dropped to the ground and was bleeding profusely. Link unsheathed his sword and swiped it across the soldier's torso. He lay silent. Link and Zelda waited and listened for anyone that may have heard the death scream.

"Do you hear anything?" Link asked Zelda.

"I don't," Zelda answered. "and he doesn't have a gun."

"Let's keep moving and try to find Peach," Link said. Zelda followed him around the corner and down another hall. The two moved stealthily and cautiously. They approached a turnoff to the right and the continuation of the hallway ahead. Link moved forward with another arrow ready to fire.

"Which way?" Zelda asked.

"I'm checking right," Link answered softly. He slowly shifted his body so he could see down the other hallway but didn't expose his body. He found it empty but lined with several other metal doors. Zelda and Link stopped at the first door.

"Should we see what's behind these doors?" Zelda asked. The two could make out eight doors, four on either side of them. They were closest to the one on the right.

"Be ready," Link ordered. He leaned in towards the panel next to the nearest door. He pushed a yellow button and the door slid open. An average Cornerian was sitting on an office chair facing away from the door. He spun around to find two of his enemies standing before him.

"You! Stop!" he called arbitrarily. Zelda flicked her wrist in a throwing motion and let loose a ball of fire. It flew towards the Cornerian and exploded in his face, causing him to catch on fire. Link let another arrow fly and it got caught in the man's forehead. He fell to the floor, still aflame.

Zelda surveyed the room and spotted a rifle against a wall. "There," she said pointing to the gun. "I'll use that." She walked to the side of the room and picked up the weapon.

"We can't kill everyone on this ship," Link stated. "We need to hurry and find Peach."

"Then let's get moving," Zelda said as she held up her gun. The two left the room and began back down the hallway. The came to another corner and found another military employee. Zelda pulled the trigger on her newly acquired semi-automatic weapon before the victim could turn and run. He fell after being hit by six shots to the chest.

The bullets riddled the wall at the end of the hallway. From around another corner another soldier appeared. He was a red-feathered avian and was wielding a small pistol. He aimed at Link and pulled the trigger. Link used his fast reflexes acquired by participating in melee and dodged the shot of red energy. Link held up his bow once more and released another arrow. It seemed it would strike the engaging soldier down, but he held up his Luger-shaped gun and deflected the arrow. The gun flew out of his grasp in the process but he remained unharmed. He fled down the hallway yelling, "Intruders! Intruders!"

Link and Zelda gave chase, but as they were about to turn the corner the sound of rounds being fire was heard. Several bullets impacted the wall near them and they ducked down and backed up.

"We have to get out of here!" Zelda said almost desperately.

"Get us another Farore's Wind!" Link commanded. He kept his bow held up and drawn aimed at the corner, waiting for the enemies to make an appearance. Zelda used her magic transportation magic technique and the two disappeared.

On another deck of the ship was a cargo bay. It was filled with several crates that were once loaded with supplies, but had been used to construct the fort on the Mushroom Kingdom. Zelda and Link teleported behind a few boxes with their weapons held up. They heard and saw no one and began towards one of the doors. They opened it and stepped into the adjoining hallway.

"This looks exactly the same as the last hallway," Zelda pointed out.

"Let's just keep going," Link suggested. "Peach must be around here somewhere."

The two slowly advanced down the nearly identical hallway. The sound of footsteps on the metal floor sent both Hylians to cover on the wall. Around the corner two canines ran with assault rifles. They weren't expecting to run into the intruders on this deck and didn't have their weapons raised. Link fired first, letting another arrow fly and struck down the first guard. Zelda leaned forward and aimed her rifle. She pulled the trigger and tried to keep her grip on the weapon, despite the recoil. After firing a larger amount of bullets than necessary the other guard fell.

"Over there! This way!" a voice from around another corner shouted. Zelda tried to avoid another confrontation and used Farore's Wind again. Link and Zelda disappeared just as three more guards arrived on the scene.

The ship had large open rooms for the landing of fighters and shuttles. Inside one of them the guards from before, the captain, the first officer, and Princess Peach awaited a transport. Now that the Mushroom Kingdom has surrendered and agreed to Cornerian occupation the princess was being released. The room had several squared areas painted white for crafts to be able to land upon. One wall was completely open, which allowed crafts of a large size to enter the hangar. The Cornerians did not expect any aggression on their own ship, but the princess and hero of Hyrule transported into the room behind a regular Cornerian fighter.

"Are we in another cargo bay?" Zelda asked.

"I don't think so," Link replied. "This is one of their space fighters."

"Then this is a hangar," Zelda stated.

"How are we really going to find Peach?" Link asked frankly. "This ship is huge, it even has ships of its own."

"Wait," Zelda interrupted. "I think I hear something."

Link and Zelda slowly walked towards the cockpit of the fighter. Link peered around the corner and spotted Peach, surrounded by Cornerian guards and officers.

"We found Peach," he whispered to Zelda. Zelda leaned in and also saw the ground standing near one of the landing platforms.

Link took a step forward and aimed his drawn bow at the crowd. He was an expert marksman with a bow and arrow and was confident he wouldn't hit Peach. Zelda offered no objection and Link fired his arrow. One of the guards turned around and was about to face the two intruders when Link's arrow pierced his skull and killed him instantly. He fell to the ground and the others noticed part of an arrow sticking out of his head. The two guards alive quickly raised their guns and scanned the area.

"Where did that come from!?" the captain asked frantically. He ducked down.

Link fired another arrow and it pierced the avian watchman's skull. He fell next to the first dead guard. The last remaining guard fired in the general direction of the two famous Hylians. Many bullets hit the fighter as the two took cover. The captain grabbed Peach by her arm and ran away from the gunfight. Zelda flicked her wrist in a throwing motion and let a ball of fire energy fly. She magically directly it around their cover and towards the only standing guard. The ball of Din's Fire exploded right on target and killed the canine in the explosion. The officer had drawn his energy pistol and awaited Link or Zelda's reappearance. Link held up his shield and sword and ran towards where the team had been standing, forfeiting his cover. The officer fired a few shots, each of which hit Link's shield and resulted in no damage. He continued firing but Link drew dangerously closer. Link slashed his sword across his enemy's torso. The first officer fell to the ground in pain, bleeding from a large laceration across his chest. Link aimed his sword down and stabbed at the officer's neck. His pain ended almost instantly.

On the other side of the ship the captain was trying to make an escape with Peach. He looked back to see his first officer's death. When he looked ahead again he saw a brilliant blast of green light, and then Zelda standing in front of him with an assault rifle.

"Shit," he cursed himself as he let go of Peach and raised his hands. Link made his way towards the two princesses and the captain. Peach remained silent throughout this entire ordeal. Link approached them and Zelda used yet another magical transportation spell. Link, Peach, and herself disappeared and left the captain alone in the hangar. They reappeared on the peek of Death Mountain in Hyrule, where their rescue operation had begun.

"You didn't need to do that," Peach finally spoke.

"Why not?" Zelda asked, lowering her stolen weapon.

"Because I signed the treaty of surrender. The Mushroom Kingdom is out of the war."


	9. Extreme Darkness

War of the Melee Worlds

Chapter 9 – Extreme Darkness

By Pelican (Pelican_13@yahoo.com)

It was five hours after the events unfolded aboard a Cornerian carrier in orbit. Peach, Link, and Zelda had escaped and remained somewhere in Hyrule, or they may have teleported to any other world. The Cornerians, wielding Peach's signature on a treaty of surrender, had taken command of Peach's Castle and was enjoying their victory. General Pepper was satisfied with the outcome of the invasion that had sprung about from a simple melee match. In a far-away sector of space a fleet of transports from Ripple Star and the other planets in that system were en route to the kingdom of Hyrule, who was now fighting the war alone. The fleet was being commanded by the hero from Pop Star and melee superstar, Kirby. While a conflict on the land of Hyrule was imminent, there was unrest in the Mushroom Kingdom. On the north shore of the kingdom three wooden canoes beached on the sandy shore. Each carried four black Yoshis, armed with swords or spears and wearing metal plate armor.

The leader of the team stepped on the beach first. A blood red "X" was painted on the front of his armor. The others dismounted and followed him into the nearby forest, which would conceal their movements.

"It should be directly south of here," one of the warriors informed.

"Everyone keep and eye out for Cornerians," the leader ordered. The fighters did as were instructed, but there was nothing of interest to the Cornerians in this area. They moved unopposed and unnoticed.

In a not especially significant sector of open space three Cornerian transports were moving at impulse. They were the same model as the type used to transport materials to the fort on the Mushroom Kingdom, only they were bound to accompany the Ripple Star fleet to Hyrule. On the lead transports scanners a noteworthy amount of transports appeared. The pilot of the lead transport sent a radio hail. Kirby's transport responded.

"Hiiii," Kirby said his innocent greeting over the radio.

"Uh…, hi," the pilot of the first Cornerian transport responded, a little confused at the lack of military procedure in his ally's fleet. "We are bringing the weapons from Fortuna, as requested."

"Stay near the back of the fleet," Kirby instructed. "We'll take over the buildings first and then you set down and we'll unload the guns."

"Copy." The three Cornerian ships found a place in the mass of odd Ripple Star ships and continued on towards Lon Lon Ranch in Hyrule.

Hours past uneventfully. On the lawn of Peach's Castle six Cornerian transports were lined up. A few soldiers patrolled the surrounding area. Basically, the Cornerians had defeated the Mushroom people in a quicker amount of time than expected brought on by Peach's willingness to sign the treaty without negotiation. Although legally the Cornerians could do anything they wanted on the Mushroom Kingdom, they didn't go much farther than the castle. They had won the first war of pride. However, there was an extremist group sworn to never give in to alleged Cornerian 'superiority.' There were twelve from this group making their way to the castle stealthily. Eventually, they reached their destination. From atop a hill overlooking the castle they could make out the positions of a few patrolling guards and a group of unguarded transports parked in the lawn. The leader pointed to his right and four Yoshis moved off in that direction. He then motioned for the remainders to follow him, and they did. The main eight made a beeline for the six unsuspecting ships while the other warriors sneaked around the side.

The four quickly ran down the yard and reached the moat. They began towards the main door of the castle when they saw a patrolling guard nearing their location. Two took cover behind a nearby tree while the others drew weapons. One wielded a sword and charged forward and the other was holding a spear. The Cornerian rounded a corner of the castle moat with his gun pointing down and saw the Yoshi charging him with a sword. He quickly raised his weapon, but not in time. The black Yoshi swiped the sword across his chest in one swift and graceful motion. The soldier fell to the ground and screamed out in excruciating pain. Another Cornerian infantryman responded by running to the sound of the death screams. He witnessed a black Yoshi looking down at his kill. He raised his rifle and fired a few shots into the Yoshi's head.

The black Yoshi fell next to the canine he had murdered. The one that had failed to take cover threw his spear towards the enemy soldier. The Cornerian was able to dodge the oncoming projectile and the sound of gunfire drew other soldiers. He fired his rifle again and several bullets hit the Yoshi with a spear. The next black Yoshi fell as another soldier arrived on the scene. The two Cornerians noticed two other black Yoshis hiding behind a tree. They both jumped out and charged the armed soldiers. Not the smartest maneuver of all time, as the Cornerians easily killed them off.

While more guards were drawn to the gun/sword fight near the moat, the eight black Yoshis left alive arrived at the transport group. From one of the cargo holds an armed soldier exited to find eight black Yoshis standing before him. He pulled out a sidearm and fired once. A black Yoshi went down, but the other seven pulled out their swords and swung. Needless to say, he was outnumbered and went down. The leader of the Yoshi attack group picked up the pistol from the dead Cornerian.

"You two take the first transport. You two take the second. You two take the third. I'll go alone in the fourth," he ordered.

The warriors nodded and ran off to their designated transports. The interplanetary ships were unoccupied and the black Yoshis took the pilot and co-pilot seats. They had little time to figure out the controls and pressed the ignition. The engines flared up and the Yoshis sitting in the pilot's seat took hold of the joysticks. Four of the parked transports eased into the air to the confusion of the helpless Cornerian soldiers. They began to ascend after gaining enough vertical altitude.

"What's that?" asked the co-pilot of the first transport. He was pointing to the radar indicator of the ship. It showed two contacts, both identified. Above their blip on the radar the word "ARWING" appeared.

"Tell the others what you see," ordered the pilot. He co- got on the radio and began transmitting to the other four hijacked transports.

"Do you guys see that?" he asked. "Two ARWINGs closing in on us."

"What do we do?" responded another co-pilot.

"Calm down," the leader ordered. "I'll try to lead them away while you six continue to Corneria."

"That won't work!" frantically another Yoshi replied. "They'd rather go after three transports than one."

"We'll help you lead them off our trail," volunteered the first transport's pilot.

"Alright," confirmed the leader. "I'll go right while you go left."

Two transports broke away from their flight path, one going left and one going right. Two ARWINGs came within ten kilometers of the transports.

"Good thing we happened to be in the neighborhood. Eh, Falco?" came a voice over the radio. The stolen transports picked up the enemy chatter.

"Uh oh, it looks like two of them are breaking away," Falco informed.

"Weird," responded Fox. "I'll get the left and you get the right."

Fox and Falco broke formation and jetted towards their designated targets. The longer it took them to reach the hijacked transports, the farther apart they could get from the other two. By the time they drew within five kilometers Falco came to a realization.

"Hey, Fox," Falco began. "If we get these two than the other two might escape."

"There's nothing we can do about that," Fox answered. The ARWINGs approached their targets. Falco fired first. Six shots from a hyper laser caused an explosion aboard the transport. It was obliterated in a ball of fire in mid-air; nothing survived.

The transport Fox was pursuing began to dive towards the ground. Fox followed and lined his fighter directly behind the less-agile transport. He fired and, like Falco, destroyed his target. The two remaining transports continued at their maximum speed and left the planet's atmosphere. The ARWINGs would not be able to catch up and they had escaped, but at a heavy cost. Only four of the initial twelve Yoshis were left alive.

Far away there was more aerial action. The fleet from Ripple Star approached the land of Hyrule. They were descending into the direct center and thusly could see almost the entire kingdom. The first of the many shuttles landed and armed men began unloading. They mostly wielded Star Rods and swords. Quickly, the teams of fairies and waddle dees scurried the ranch and began setting up defenses. The main entrance was blocked off and everyone living on the ranch was rounded up. Hylians and horses alike were forced into the stable. Soldiers searched the main house and a tower on the other side of the ranch. Being that no guard posts had been set up in and around the ranch the star team had an easy time with the landing.

As transports unloaded they took off into the air to clear up more ground room. The last crafts to land were those sent by Fortuna. They set down in the horse's pasture surrounded by a black fence. The doors opened and waddle dees began unloading machine guns, artillery, and assault rifles. In a matter of minutes all the equipment was unloaded and Lon Lon Ranch was claimed in the name of Ripple Star.

At an alarming close proximity was Hyrule Castle. Three guards from the station near the city walls ran into the castle shouting, "The enemy has landed!" and "They've taken Lon Lon Ranch!" It wasn't long until the king had been informed.

Back at the ranch three Hylian guards armed with spears approached the only real entrance. They found a makeshift wall had been constructed using logs. The first guard stepped onto the lowest log and climbed up, followed by the other two. The wall wasn't extremely high and he reached the top fairly easily, but on the other side a group of waddle dees wielding Cornerian assault rifles opened fire. The first Hylian fell down the wall, his dead body knocking another guard off, and hit the ground. The other Hylian jumped off and ducked down. The two alive regained their senses and ran off towards the castle, leaving the other guard before the blockade.

In the front lawn of the castle a large concentration of the Hylian military was gearing up for battle. They suited up with their regular armor and spears. Many of them were young and were about to get their first taste of a real battle. Around fifty of them gathered near the castle gate and waited. The gate was opened and the troops began moving into the city and then over the lowered drawbridge into Hyrule field. Once the forces had left the city the drawbridge was raised again, shutting out enemies and their own troops. Two archers were stationed above the walls ready to take aim at oncoming enemies.

Atop the tower in Lon Lon and machine gun had been mounted. Two fairies, the ones from Ripple Star not Kokiri Forest, manned the gun and held the long line of rounds feeding into the weapon. They had a great aim of half of Hyrule Field and could see anything coming from as far as the Gerudo Valley.

In space two Cornerian transports made their way towards Corneria. Earlier they had been hijacked by a team of black Yoshis, only four remained. While all kinds of military activity was taking place in the land of Hyrule they continued a war they had lost.

"I can't believe only four of us survived," said an uneasy Yoshi over the radio. The co-pilot of the other transport agreed.

"Remember guys, we still have a mission to carry out," the pilot of the second transport reminded.

"What if we run into more Cornerian fighters?" the pilot of the first transported asked.

"Either way, things don't look good for us," the co-pilot of the second transport answered.

"Hey, remember who we are!" the second pilot again reminded his team again. "We are the Dark Yoshi! We don't run from fights!"

"Still," responded the first pilot, "Mushroom Kingdom has already lost the war and they exiled us."

"We aren't forgetting our banishment from the Mushroom Kingdom, but we must show these Cornerians that they are not superior to our worlds."

"I just don't think we should be doing this for a nation that has banned us."

"Then get rid of your thoughts! We are going to finish this and Corneria draws ever closer."

Another force of soldiers was amassing near Hyrule. They came from the fortress near the Desert Colossus. Strangely enough, the warriors were all female. In fact, almost everyone was female. This was the Gerudo Fortress, home to the mysterious Gerudo tribe. It is said that one male is born in their tribe every 100 years. One such male happened to be a melee competitor, Ganondorf. He waited on his black steed with the warriors. Ganondorf had attempted to take over the land of Hyrule but was thwarted by Link and Zelda. The king of Hyrule had earlier had a theory that Ganondorf and the Cornerians would ally against him. This hasn't happened, yet.

Without saying a word, Ganondorf began toward the bridge to Hyrule Field. The other Gerudos, about 30 strong, followed. Ganondorf crossed the bridge first and left the valley, where he found a Hylian guard post had been set up. Three guards were watching Lon Lon Ranch, disregarding their duties to keep an eye on the Gerudo civilization. Ganondorf and the first group of women warriors walked past. The guards notice this but dared not attack a much larger force while armed with only basic spears. The entire force entered the field but did not go much farther. One Gerudo looked through a crude telescope to better see the enemy's actions. That is, if the Gerudo were going to consider Ripple Star an enemy.

Undoubtedly, a fight was going to happen very soon in Hyrule Field, but another fight was about to take place. The two Cornerian transports being piloted by the Dark Yoshi began to enter the atmosphere of the most populated planet in the Lylat System, Corneria. As they drew within 20 kilometers of the capital city a female and feline voice was heard over the radio.

"Make way for Katt!"

"What was that?" the first Yoshi pilot asked.

"Um," the second pilot thought to himself, then vocalized a fact he had noticed, "an enemy fighter is getting really close to us!"

"How far is it? We didn't pick it up!" the co-pilot of the first transport replied frantically.

"Less that one kilometer, and it's behind us!" came the reply.

Indeed, the fighter was drawing on their six. She was in a streamline pink and white spacecraft that seemed to leave golden sparkles as it sped though the sky.

"We're going left towards the city, you break right!" the first pilot ordered. He banked his transport left while the other followed instructions and went right. All planes were above water and were no longer descending into the planet. Land began to be able to be seen off in the distance by both transports.

The city drew into view of the first transport. The craft passed over the shoreline and into a small strip of canyon leading directly into the city. Katt's craft followed close behind and now that the transport was traveling in a straight path she lined up a shot. She pulled the trigger and a pink laser blast impacted the engine of the hijacked transport. She shot two more times and the transport began to go down. It crashed into the ground and exploded on impact. Katt pulled up to avoid being hit by shrapnel and to intercept the second bogey.

The second transport took a higher path and now descended directly towards Corneria City. From the side window the pilot saw the light from the explosion of the first transport.

"Watch out!" the co-pilot called out in distress. He ducked down and a laser shot hit the front of the shuttle. A hole was blasted in the metal and pieces flew off into the air. The pilot pulled up but was shot once more by a ground-based cannon. Smoke began to escape from the craft in clear view to anyone on the streets of the capital. The transport was losing power and the pilot aimed it directly into one of the taller buildings of the city. In a massive ball of flames the building was pierced by the intergalactic ship. The cockpit was smashed in during the impact and both pilots died instantly. The skyscraper now had a huge burning hole where the enemy had crashed. Pieces of metal from the plane and building fell everywhere. Screaming and terrified civilians fled the scene. General Pepper, from a window in the next-door skyscraper, looked on at the destruction that had now come to his home world.


	10. The Boiling Point

War of the Melee Worlds

Chapter 10 – The Boiling Point

By Pelican (Pelican_13@yahoo.com)

The Hylian forces had been equipped with Hylian shields to hopefully block any enemy laser fire. The Ripple Star forces held Lon Lon Ranch like a jewel stolen from a watchful shopkeeper. The very fact that they could land on Hylian soil and capture an entire area infuriated the Hylians and they allowed their emotions to get the best of them. They were preparing to move out. The Gerudos stood near the makeshift, wooden, guard post established near their valley. Some of the women were armed with bows and ice arrows, a specialty item of the Gerudos.

One of the higher-ranking soldiers gave the command and the Hylian soldiers began to move out towards the ranch. The first row of them held their shields high. Farther back men were armed with bows along with their standard issue spears. Another command was given and everyone broke out into a mad charge. They sprinted with all their might towards the very center of their kingdom.

Inside the Ripple Star perimeter a waddle dee ran up to a few other waddle dees arming three large pieces of artillery.

"The enemy is charging! Open fire!" he ordered.

The artillery operators responded and began firing over their established walls and into the mass of oncoming soldiers. The first projectile landed in front of the charging force. Bits and pieces of the soil blasted up at them. The group ran forward, through the crater blasted right before them and through the mass of dirt coming at them from the explosion. Another artillery shot was well aimed. It hit one side of the first row of incoming soldiers. The shields provided absolutely no defense, and the armor didn't help either, and around 10 men went down instantly.

"Go!" ordered Ganondorf while pointing his sword towards the ranch. The Gerudo tribe's warriors followed instructions and began their own charge towards the ranch. From atop the tower constructed in the ranch the two fairies looked down at the Gerudo's activity. They aimed the heavy machine gun at the warrior women and began to open fire.

Another five men went down to a hellish artillery explosion. A few young soldiers discontinued the charge and retreated towards Zora River. The Hylians left on the attack began to seriously dwindle in number.

Three Gerudos were taken out by the machine gun fire. Two skilled Gerudos wielding ice arrows took aim at the two atop the tower. They fired and with precise accuracy hit the Ripple Star fairies in their hearts. Not only were they bleeding externally but also the arrows embedded in them virtually froze their insides. One fell off the tower, surly to die upon his impact on Hyrule Field.

"The Hylian military is occupied! Launch now!" ordered a fairy. He was directing his order at Kirby, his team of nine waddle dees, and a Cornerian transport. The ten designated quickly boarded the transport and closed the doors. The craft began to steadily lift off, while artillery fire rained down between the ranch and the town and Gerudo warriors began to fire ice arrows into the air and let them wall on the ranch.

Once the transport had reached an altitude high enough to get over the castle walls it began propelling forward. Below more Hylian guards began retreating. The main force was hardly recognizable amongst the fleeing soldiers. The transport past over the city walls. The two stationed archers took a shot at the craft's cockpit but to no avail. After an extremely short flight the craft descended into the front lawn of Hyrule Castle. Kirby and his team exited. They were armed with Star Rods with the exception of the pink hero himself. He wielded a long sword, taller than himself, that was ignited and stayed ignited by some unknown method. The team ran towards the drawbridge, which was raised. Kirby had planned that and also brought with him a few sticks of dynamite. He threw it over the moat and it landed on a ledge next to the drawbridge. He and the waddle dees fell back behind a small cliff. The explosion was loud; anyone in the castle or the nearby town could have heard it. Kirby stepped out from his cover to see a hole had been blown into the drawbridge, still raised, and the nearby stones. He led the way into the moat and to the castle's entrance.

Three Gerudos aimed upwards at the ranch. They let their arrows fly, which had a grapple instead of an arrowhead attached. The arrow was connected to a rope and as the arrows grabbed something inside the ranch they had a way to climb into the garrison. The first three Gerudos began up while several others took aim. Inside the garrison the waddle dees and fairies were busy repelling the Hylian force and the Gerudo force went almost unnoticed.

From a naturally occurring bridge over the outlet of Zora River three Hylian guards watched the mayhem unfolding. Almost all Hylians had retreated, if not dead. Two or three made it to cover at the Lon Lon ranch's walls but were pretty much pinned down there. Craters were blasted into the soil by relentless artillery fire. The field between Hyrule Castle Town and Lon Lon Ranch was covered with blood and bits of flesh scattered by explosions. One of the watching Hylians put his head between his hands and shook his head, thinking this carnage was too unreal to be true.

Special news reports flooded the major television stations and radio stations all over the Lylat System. General Pepper and his team of officers were frantically trying to do anything they could after the attack. In the background a television was tuned into a common station and the same reporter as before was bring the breaking news to the public.

"A hijacked transport shuttle has crashed into a skyscraper right here in Corneria City," she calmly reported. "We have unconfirmed reports that this act was committed by an extremist group on Yoshi's Island known as the Dark Yoshi. The shuttles were supposedly stolen near Peach's Castle in the Mushroom Kingdom. The vigilante Katt Monroe reported shooting down one of the hijacked transports in the valley leading to the city."

The view switched to a live shot of the impacted tower. Smoke was billowing out of it while powerful water cannons were being fired in by ground and air-based vehicles.

Inside the war room, which happened to be in the building next to the one on fire, General Pepper had ordered air patrols throughout the Lylat System and security stepped up everywhere on the Mushroom Kingdom. The highest-ranking officers were too worried about another attack on them and failed to pay enough attention to their ally's force on Hyrule. It would seem that the garrison at Lon Lon Ranch would go without additional reinforcements.

Kirby and the waddle dees ran down a marble hallway in Hyrule Castle. On either side of them were rows of doors leading to the countless rooms in the castle. The team's destination was the throne room, where the king hopefully resided. Ahead lied one of the larger doors in the main hallway. Kirby reached it first and waited for the waddle dees to catch up. The waddle dees aimed held their Star Rods and were ready for a fight. Kirby took a slash at the door with the Fire Sword. It made a sizable cut and the wooden door began to burn. Kirby took a few more slashes and cut an entrance big enough for one to fit though. He entered first and was followed by the nearest waddle dees. Before them was a large room with stairs leading to the throne chair on the other side. In the chair sat the king of Hyrule himself, and near him stood captains of the guard. A few waddle dees fired star projectiles from their rods. The shots were accurate and the two captains fell. The king stood and tried to get away.

"Stop!" commanded Kirby, who was backed by nine waddle dees aiming their Star Rods at the king. The Hylian king froze in his tracks. The Ripple Star team had hit the castle at its weakest time. Almost all military were fighting in Hyrule Field. The king offered no resistance and raised his hands with dignity.

The first Gerudos rappelled to the top of the tower on Lon Lon Ranch. Two of the first three females had taken command of the mounted machine gun. The dead body of one Ripple Star fairy was kicked to the ground far below. The attackers spun the gun around and aimed down at the ranch. Chaos was everywhere. Machine gun fire was raining down on the garrison, as well as being fired at the converted tower. Star projectiles flew up towards the Gerudos climbing the wall, many hit the area nearby and caused damage to the tower or the surrounding wall. The sounds of artillery fire still boomed out in the field. Debris was sent in all directions in the path between the ranch and the town. It was a fierce gunfight in which many on all sides were taking casualties.

The king of the Gerudos, Ganondorf, made it to the top of the tower. The three occupying the gun ducked below the high-point of the roof and were generally safe from enemy fire. Ganondorf got a glimpse at the main Hylian city while he was repositioning himself to be in better cover. He saw a lone Cornerian transport lifting off and moving towards their direction.

"There!" he called, pointing to the sky. "Shoot at that!"

One of the Gerudos aimed the mounted weapon towards the sky above Hyrule Castle Town.

In the cockpit of the transport the pilot could easily see the gunfight going on around the base. When machine gun fire came near the ship he took hard hold of the joystick and turned right, towards the Gerudo Valley and Lake Hylia. A row of bullets hit the engine and caused a violent release of energy. A ball of fire trailed the transport and it began going down. The Gerudos continued shooting relentlessly at the enemy transport. As it went out of view behind one of the cliffs above the river leading to Lake Hylia the gunners switched back to firing down on the ranch.

The shuttle suffered another explosion in its engines. The pilot was unable to control the ship anymore and it drew nearer to the surface. A few wooden objects crashed into the cockpit and less than a second later it impacted the water of Lake Hylia. The fuel remaining exploded, causing a shock wave in the water and destroying everything in the transport. A small amount of gas reached the surface, still aflame. It continued to burn as some remains of the transport floated to the surface. Pieces of metal from the ship and wood from the bridge the crash had taken out littered the water.

On the roof of an observation station overlooking the lake a flash of green light appeared. In a magical yellow swirl the princess of this land, Zelda, and the famed hero, Link, appeared. They looked down at the burning water and debris floating in the water below.

"No," Zelda said silently to herself. Link put his hand on the princess's shoulder, offering support.

"I can't believe this happened," Zelda said.

"Let's go," suggested Link, "there's nothing we can do for them."

They looked down at the burning water for a moment

"But there is," Zelda replied.

"What?"

"There is something we can do, for my father and everyone else that died in this senseless war."

"What?" Link asked again.

"I'll show you." She used another Farore's Wind and the two disappeared.

They soon reappeared atop the tower overlooking Lon Lon.

"Ganondorf!" Zelda tried to get Ganondorf's attention over the loud artillery. Ganondorf spun around to see the two other Hylians in Melee.

"What do you want?" he yelled.

"Come with me," Zelda said probably not loud enough for Ganondorf to hear. She used yet another Farore's Wind and transported Link, Ganondorf, and herself away from the battlefield.

The three artillery guns in the middle of Lon Lon Ranch were pushed to face the left by several waddle dees. When they had the weapons facing where they wanted they opened fire again. The explosions hit the top of the tower and the walls the Gerudos were climbing over. Bits of stone flew off the structure, along with bodies of Gerudo warriors. The fairies and waddle dees rallied and begun to repel the Gerudos coming over the wall. Craters began to appear at the tops of the wall and the roof of the tower was looking in really bad shape. One more shell hit the tower and exploded. The roof was virtually blown off. Pieces fell back down into the tower and over the wall into Hyrule Field. The Gerudos still on the ground began retreating as stone debris fell on them.


	11. The Triforce of Peace

War of the Melee Worlds

Chapter 11 – The Triforce of Peace

By Pelican (Pelican_13@yahoo.com)

Some of the remaining Cornerian forces at Fort Midnight were loitering around the hangars. Several plane's remains lie scattered throughout the base and a few buildings had collapsed. After Corneria won the war here units had been withdrawn in large amounts. The remaining presence was left to watch over the equipment still to be taken out. On one of the runways three figures teleported using Farore's Wind. The magic spell brought them next to one of the Star Fox ARWINGs that was attempted to be hijacked by the first strike team. The fire had been put out and all that was left was a charred mass of metal making the runway unusable.

"Why have I been brought here?" Ganondorf demanded.

"I don't see how we can help," Link stated.

"Listen," Zelda cut the two off. "The three of us together have a power that can reverse all the damage caused by this war."

"The..Triforce?" Link asked.

"Yes. We must unite the Triforce and-," Zelda began.

"Wait!" Ganondorf interrupted, "if the triforce is united one of your good guys will lay your hands on it and then I'm history."

"Not if all of us lie our hands on it," Link suggested.

"Right," Zelda began to explain her plan again. "If we have two good and one evil neither side controls the Triforce, and we each keep our individual pieces."

"Let's do it!" Link encouraged.

"No! Why should I help you?" Ganondorf responded.

"Ganondorf, this war has hurt us all. It's been felt all too much in our world. We need to help fix this," Zelda explained.

"Why don't we continue the fight…bring down General Pepper and-," Ganondorf began.

"Ganondorf!" this time Link interrupted. "It's over! We can't continue to fight Ripple Star and Corneria."

"Please, Ganondorf," Zelda almost begged.

"Well," Ganondorf thought, "alright. You two better not be tricking me into something."

"Let's do it," Link said again. He made a fist and held out his gauntlet. The Triforce symbol appeared with one third of the gold illuminated. Zelda did the same with her glove. Another Triforce symbol appeared, with a different third of the symbol illuminated. Ganondorf hesitated and held up his fist. The same symbol appeared with the top third illuminated. The three brought their fists together. A flash of golden light shot up towards the sky as the three made contact.

Before time began, before spirits and life existed... three golden goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule: Din, the goddess of power, Nayru, the goddess of wisdom, Farore, the goddess of courage. The three goddesses scattered throughout the lands affected by the war. Din, with her strong flaming arms, repaired all matter damaged during the conflict. Stone and flesh alike came back into their original form as if they had never been scratched. Nayru poured her wisdom onto the lands and brought a sense of peace back to the planets. Hostile intentions were realized to be pointless and unwanted. Farore, with her rich soul, reanimated all the dead bodies on all the worlds. Those killed in any matter on any planet rose to their feet as if they had never been harmed. The melee stars watched on as everything seemed to go back to the way it was before the tragic war. Several Cornerian soldiers surrounded the group but did not attack. They watched with the same awe and the same knowledge that this war had been senseless. The three great goddesses, their labors completed, departed for the heavens.

"This is undoubtedly a miracle!" a news anchor was reporting the events in downtown Corneria City. "The debris from the building just seemed to float back up and filled in that gaping hole. Ones pronounced dead just stood like it was all a dream…I just can't explain this."

The news station replayed footage from a few seconds ago. Pieces of metal were rising into the impact site on the skyscraper. The transport that hit the tower seemed to magically reconstruct on the ground.

Chunks of stone and the entire roof of the Lon Lon Ranch tower rose and filled their previous position. Hylian guards stood up where there had been craters. Dead Gerudos, waddle dees, and Ripple Star fairies alike were brought back to life.

The rows of toad infantry gunned down at the Cornerian garrison arose. Their bodies had been moved but now all 50 of them stood, alive.

Some of the planes that had been hijacked at Fort Midnight reappeared on the ground. The guard towers rebuilt and the gunners were brought back to life. The hangars that had collapsed were forced back up.

The ARWING that happened to be next to the Triforce holders was restored to perfect condition. In the sky a Cornerian transport began to vertically descend near the group. The doors opened and the transport touched down. Out stepped Kirby, the team of waddle dees, and the king of Hyrule.

"Father!" the princess Zelda said with near disbelief. She ran towards the transport and embraced her father. They held each other there for a while. Two more things in the sky began down on their location. They were both ARWINGs, mainly those piloted by Fox and Falco. The glass canopies opened as the fighters reached the ground and the pilots jumped out. They joined Link and Ganondorf at the point where the Triforce had been united once again.

From the other side of a hangar the entire first strike force launched by one of the Yoshi tribes approached the crowd. They bore no hostility and no one was against them.

"Alright," Ganondorf interrupted the silent celebration, "that's enough of this peacefulness. I'm taking my Triforce piece and leaving. Ganondorf's gauntlet once again showed his piece of the Triforce. He reached into one of the pieces of armor on his legs and pulled out a Deku Nut. He threw it to the ground and the next thing everyone knew he had disappeared.

Link, Fox, Falco, and Kirby turned around and faced the Hylian royalty. Falco and Link engaged in a handshake. Fox and Zelda gave each other a hug. The king of Hyrule had to get on one knee to shake hands with Kirby. All was well in the realms. The Lylat System, the Ripple Star – Pop Star System, the Mushroom Kingdom, and Hyrule had gone back to being allies as it was before. As, if the prosperity continues, it always will be.


End file.
